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HOUSE....... No. 13. 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS 



CONCERHING 



AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 



JANUARY, 1851 












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o 

^ [Jan. 1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 



€omnicinUjr«iltlj of JUasisiaeljustttfiJ* 



The Commissioners to whom were referred the Resolves of the 
last Legislature, concerning the establishment of an Agricul- 
tural School, and other subjects relative to the advancement 
of the interests of agriculture in this Commonwealth, submit 
the following 

REPORT: 

The first seed ever planted was the first eftort of civilization. 
The highest physical triumph of civilization, therefore, must 
be, that perfection in the art of cultivation which will afford 
abundant sustenance to the largest possible population. 

Agriculture is that ait ; the nursing mother of nations. With 
Its prosperity, population multiplies, commerce and manufac- 
tures increase, all the industrial pursuits of mankind flourish, 
and wealth and comfort abound. On the contrary, let the 
cultivation of the soil in any nation be neglected, the hum of 
business will be silenced, the arm of industry paralyzed, and 
both individual and national happiness destroyed. Or, let 
the earth cease to yield her armual increase ; yea, let but one 
of her accustomed crops be cut off, as we have witnessed in 
Ireland and other countries, and how soon scenes of want, mis- 
ery and crime ensue, constraining multitudes to abandon home 
and country in search of sustenance in a foreign land, or con- 
signing them, by famine and pestilence, to untimely graves. 

The wisdom of Washington, the Father of his Country, 
was in nothing more conspicuous than in this remark : " I 
know of no pursuit in which more real or important good can 
be rendered to a country, than by the improvement of its agri- 
culture ;" a sentiment which we rejoice to see reiterated in one 



4 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

of the late public documents from the capital bearing his ven- 
erable name. 

" The agricultural interest stands first in importance in our 
country, and embodies within itself the principal elements of 
our national wealth and power ; and it should be with us, as it 
has been, and is, with all other prosperous civilized nations, a 
leading object of public regard." 

This art is, indeed, the primitive and most important pursuit 
of man. On its success depends the welfare, not only of one 
nation, but of the whole civilized world. Its importance can 
never be appreciated until we arrive at the final results of com- 
merce, and the other great industrial pursuits which rest upon 
it, nor until we can obtain the aggregate of those blessings 
which it has conferred, and is capable of conferring, on the 
human race. 

It should, therefore, be the especial care of every government 
to promote among its subjects such a knowledge of this world- 
sustaining art, as to enable them to derive their support from its 
soil, and thus to make them an independent as well as a happy 
people. Upon this principle our fathers acted, and the wisdom 
of their legislation sustains this remark. 

Besides, increasing attention to this art is demanded by the 
character of the present age, so distinguished for scientific dis- 
coveries, and the facility with which these are applied to the 
other arts of life. For instance, what wonderful improvements 
have been witnessed in the art of printing, since tl>e appren- 
ticeship of our Franklin ; in the manufacture of cloth, since 
the inventions of Arkwright and others ; in the comfort and 
velocity of travelling, since the discoveries of Fulton ; and in 
international communication, by the lightning speed of tele- 
graphic communication ; — all, all by the application of science 
to art. 

And has she no contribution to make in aid of agriculture, 
the parent of all arts ? True, she has already done something, 
in the improvement of labor-saving implements, to lessen the 
toil of the farmer, and enable him to perform in an hour the 
work of a day ; and she needs but a wise direction of thought, 
enterprise, and capital, to accomplish still greater results. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 5 

The triumphs of inventive genius have placed, on the bright 
page of American history, names illustrious for patriotism, sci- 
ence, and art. There are many whom we honor and revere as 
pioneers and practical men in agriculture ; but, in the applica- 
tion of profound scientific knowledge to this time-honored art, 
where are the men who are to stand on the roll of fame by the 
side of Rittenhouse, Franklin, and Fulton ? If " knowledge is 
power," the want of it is weakness ; and this axiom is as appli- 
cable to agriculture as to any other employment. The doors of 
the temple of science are open to all who desire to enter it, and 
there is no reason v/hy the farmer, as well as the mechanic or 
manufacturer, may not pass its portals. 

The investigations of scientific men have proved, beyond 
the possibility of a doubt, that, by the analysis of the soil, and 
the desired crop, and a wise reference to atmospheric influences, 
we are as competent to adapt food to the different species of 
vegetables, as to the various kinds of animals ; for instance, to 
feed a crop of corn, as a herd of swine. 

An example will illustrate this remark. In a letter from Pro- 
fessor Mapes, the scientific editor of the " Working Farmer,'* 
addressed to General Tallmadge, President of the American 
Institute, is the following statement : — 

" During the last winter, I made an analysis of soil from a 
field which refused corn last year, and found the soil deficient 
in the following constituents : chlorine, soda, phosphoric acid^ 
lime, potasji, and ammonia. The last spring, I applied a com- 
post of common salt, decomposed by lime, thus supplying 
chlorine and soda ; spent bone dust, of the sugar refiners, 
v/hich furnished phosphoric acid ; Peruvian guano, containing 
potash and ammonia, to which was added a small portion of 
charcoal dust and plaster of Paris, to retain the volatile portions. 

" The above was added to the soil at an expense of one dol- 
lar and thirty-one cents per acre, and the field planted with 
corn. The crop is now standing, and the Committee of the 
American Institute on Farms will state to you that the crop 
will probably be from fifty to seventy-five bushels of shelled 
corn per acre." 

Professor Mapes further states, that in no instance has the 



6 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

experiment failed to produce desired^crops, of superior quality, 
where manuring has been founded on the chemical constituents 
of the soil, &c. Among these he mentions several instances 
where corn has produced over one hundred bushels per acre ; 
wheat, forty to fifty-seven bushels per acre ; potatoes, three 
hundred to four hundred bushels per acre ; carrots, one thousand 
bushels ; ruta baga, twelve hundred bushels ; and other crops 
in proportion. 

Similar facts have been developed by the mere rotation of 
crops, instances in which lands had produced abundantly, with- 
out the application of manure, for several years. 

This theory teaches, that certain products are adapted to 
certain soils, and that, where particular ingredients have been 
exhausted from the soil by vegetation, the indiscriminate use 
of fertilizing materials will not necessarily ensure a crop. 

Already the exhaustive process of perpetual cropping has 
travelled over the once fertile lands of New England, and in its 
desolating march is wending its way over the fair fields of New 
York, Ohio, and on to the " Far West." Under the influence 
of this system of cultivation, the crops of wheat in these States 
have receded from an average of twenty-two bushels to fourteen 
bushels, or less, per acre ; and the same remark will apply to 
other crops, in like ratio of reduction. 

From this sad but common error, Europe is just recovering ; 
and, under the influence of her agricultural schools, now scat- 
tered all over the continent, (as will be seen by this report,) and 
of scientific cultivation, her crop of wheat in many parts has ad- 
vanced from sixteen bushels to an average of over thirty bush- 
els per acre ; and a similar increase has taken place in other 
crops. Wonders have also been achieved in reclaiming waste 
lands, and in converting those which were barren and worthless, 
into rich and productive farms. 

Our farmers are becoming aware of these facts, but do they 
realize that the present system of impoverishing our lands, 
without sustaining their natural strength and fertility, will, 
sooner or later, end in barrenness ? and that, if the present pop- 
ulation may rightfully exhaust one-third part of the arable lands 
of the United States of their natural fertility, the population 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 7 

which will be here at the close of the present century will, 
long before that period, have consumed the remaining two-thirds 
of all American territory. By a calculation which appears in 
a late Report of the Patent Office at Washington, it is estimated 
that one thousand millions of dollars would not more than re- 
store to their original richness and strength the one hundred 
million acres of lands in the United States, wliich have already 
been partially exhausted of their fertility. 

One-half of the present century has elapsed, and in it, nearly 
two generations have passed off the stage ; a period, too, distin- 
guished for scientific discoveries, and for the progress of civiliza- 
tion ; yet, in this boasted age of improvement, no institution 
exclusively for instruction in agriculture has been established, 
either by this Commonwealth, or by any other State of the 
Union. But dark as this view of agricultural education 
reall}'' is, says Dr. Lee, in his Report to the Secretary of 
the Interior, it is but the dawn of a bright and happy 
day. " Many who have labored for the iinprovement of 
agriculture and the education of the agriculturists, for a quarter 
of a century, with little hope of reward, now realize the begin- 
ning of an auspicious change in public sentiment. Thanks to 
agricultural societies and journals, the people will soon discover 
that labor and capital devoted to tillage and husbandry, are as 
worthy of legislative consideration and aid, as when applied to 
mining, commerce, and manufactures. 

" It is indeed wonderful how long those enlightened farmers, 
who, like Washington, cherish a due respect for their high call- 
ing, have had to beg, and beg in vain, of State Legislatures and 
of Congress, for a little assistance to prevent the universal im- 
poverishment of American soils. Neither the earnest recom- 
mendation of the illustrious farmer of Mount Vernon, nor the 
prayers of two generations of agriculturists, nor the painful 
fact, that nearly all the tilled lands were becoming less and less 
productive, could induce any legislature to foster the study of 
agriculture as a science. Happily, this term, when used in 
connection with rural affairs, is no longer the subject of ridicule. 

" A great principle is involved in the science of agriculture, 
which reaches through indefinite generations, and forms the 
basis of all possible improvements and of the highest hopes of 



8 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

our race. As a nation of farmers, is it not time that we inquire 
by what means and on what terms the fruitfulness of the earth, 
and its invahiable products may be forever maintained, if not for- 
ever improved. 

" These are questions of universal concernment, to the careful 
and rigid investigation of which, no man should refuse to lend 
a listening ear. A governmental policy which results in im- 
poverishing the natural fertility of the land, must have an end. 
It is only a question of time, when this truly spendthrift course, 
this abuse of the goodness of Providence, shall meet with its 
inevitable punishment. 

"A lack of mental culture and discipline is the most serious 
impediment to the diffusion of agricultural science among the 
farmers. Its language to them is an unknown tongue. Hence, 
the most sublime truths in the economy of nature are shut out 
from the popular understanding. It is feared that this will ever 
be the case, initil schools designed to teach these branches of 
learning, which the practical farmer greatly needs but does not 
possess, are established and maintained throughout the United 
States." 

In view of these remarks, your commissioners are of opinion 
that something should be done to arrest this evil, and to restore 
the great national loss occasioned by the misapplication of labor 
and capital in farming ; and that the time has arrived, when 
public sentiment also demands that some measures should be 
adopted by our Legislatures, as well as by Congress, to afford 
scientific and practical instruction in the various departments 
of agricultural husbandry. 

Colleges and schools for this purpose have been established 
in Europe, sharing largely in the patronage, or wholly sustained 
by government, and under the immediate direction of learned 
and practical men. These may not be copies for our exact im- 
itation, bat models from which may be derived many valuable 
suggestions. 

Impressed with the importance of laying before the Legisla- 
ture all the information acquired in relation to these institutions, 
their systems of instruction and government, and the operation 
of the same, the commissioners submit the following cornmuni- 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 9 

cation as a part of this report, being the results of the investi- 
gations of a member of this Board, during his late tour in 
Europe. This valuable and able paper, the chairman may be 
permitted to say, embraces an amount of information and re- 
search never before presented to the American public, on this 
subject, and cannot fail to be read with great interest by all the 
friends of agricultural education : — 

7b the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Chairman of the Commissioners 
appointed by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, on the sub- 
ject of Agricultural Schools : 

Sir, — It was in the latter part of June, (1850) while in London, thai 
1 received from you a notice of my appointment as one of the Com- 
missioners to consider the expediency of establishing an Agricul- 
tural School or Schools, in Massachusetts ; and also a request that I 
would visit as many of the Agricultural Institutions in Europe as would 
enable me to understand the system of instruction, and the operation of 
these schools in that part of the globe. The notice reached me as I 
was about leaving England for the continent. But having accepted the 
appointment, I entered at once upon the examination suggested ; first 
in England, then successively in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Switzer- 
land and France, The results of these investigations I now offer to 
the Commissioners, through you, as Chairman, rather than to the Ex- 
ecutive, or Legislative departments of the government ; because they 
were made at the request of the former, not of the latter. 

Not anticipating any such request when 1 left home, I found myself 
not a little embarrassed in ascertaining the number, character and loca- 
tion of Agricultural Schools, so as to select the most important to be 
visited ; for most of these schools being of recent origin, have not forci- 
bly arrested public attention, like the Universities and Colleges of Eu- 
rope. Nevertheless, through the kindness of gentlemen connected with 
the United States Legations abroad, and of some distinguished scientific 
friends in London, the subject gradually opened upon me fully, and 
I became more and more surprised to find how widely it now 
engages the attention of the governments, and of distinguished indi- 
viduals, not only in the countries above named, but in several othei-s in 
Europe, of which, also, I shall be able to give an account. I found, 
also, that when I had announced myself as from Massachusetts, making 
enquiries on the subject of education, I hardly needed any other intro- 
duction, so sensible are gentlemen abroad of the superiority of her 
2 



10 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

common school system ; not hesitating, in many cases, to pronounce it 
the best on the globe. 

Besides sevoral gentlemen, who are at the head of the Agricultural 
Schools, and whose names will be mentioned when I come to describe 
those schools, it gives me pleasure to mention the following as having 
aided me very essentially in these investigations, and to whom, there- 
fore, I am deeply indebted. 

Hon. Abbott Lawrence, American Minister in London ; Sir Charles 
Lyell ; Hon. P. Pusey, M. P. from Berkshire in England ; Hon. Wil- 
liam Monsell, M. P. from Limerick County in Ireland ; Right Hon. 
Alexander Macdonald of Dublin ; Professor J. F. W. Johnston of Dur- 
ham, England ; Chevalier Bunsen, Prussian Minister in London ; Pro- 
fessor Rcissen of Bonn ; Professor Dr. Sandbcrger of Weisbaden, &c. 
Before I proceed to the details concerning particular schools, it may 
be well to state some general facts concerning them, such as the 
following : — 

A fiiw of them are founded and sustained by individuals, or private 
^associations of gentlemen interested in Agriculture. 

A far greater number are assisted, or sustained, by the government 
■of the country. 

Some consist of Professorships in Colleges or Universities. 
Some depend upon Colleges and Universities for a part of their 
'Professors. 

The greater number are independent institutions. 
Some are connected with primary schools. 

We find among them three or four grades in the course of instruction. 
In nearly all cases they have smaller or larger farms connected with 
them. 

I shall now proceed to give an account of the Agricultural Schools 
which I have either visited, or concerning which I have obtained in- 
formation. And here the difficulty will be, not to find facts, but out of 
the multitude that have fallen under my observation, to make an ap- 
propriate selection. The fact is, that the general peace that now pre- 
vails in Europe, has turned the attention of the people and of govern- 
ment to the arts, by which the ravages of a thirty years' war may be 
repaired; and among these arts, agriculture of course claims special 
attention. Says the French minister of agriculture and of commerce, 
in his admirable report on Agricultural Education, — " Since the mental 
activity of men no longer finds aliment on the field of battle, it is di- 
rected towards the labors and the conquests of peace. Everywhere the 
population has returned to industry, to the arts, to agriculture, to seek 
a remedy for the deep wounds made by war." 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 11 

In giving details, I shall follow the order in which I visited the sev- 
eral countries. 

ENGLAND. 

The Agricultural Schools of England are of two grades, differing 
mainly in the amount of land cultivated, in the amount of apparatus 
and specimens, and in the extent of instruction. As yet the govern- 
ment have not, I believe, afforded them any pecuniary aid, and they 
are sustained by individuals, or by associated voluntary efforts. There 
is only one school of the higher grade, and that is called a college. 

Agricultural College. 

This is situated at Cirencester, about ninety-five miles northwest of 
London, on the oolitic formation, and adjoining the parks of Earl Bath- 
urst, who is honorary president. The buildings are substantial, ample, 
and even elegant ; the principal front being 190 feet. They include a 
dining hall, library, museum, lecture room, theatre, laboratories, class 
rooms, private studies, kitchen and servants' rooms, and offices with dor- 
mitories, one for each student. An elegant chapel has just been built. 
A forge, carpenters' and wheelwrights' shop are attached, as also a 
dairy and slaughter house. 

Much attention is given to practical chemistry, the laboratory being 
on the plan of that at G lessen, and well adapted to manipulations. 
Nearly one half of the stud(Jnts become respectable practical chemists. 
The collections in natural history are not large. The students' pri- 
vate rooms seemed to me too small, and to look too much like the cells 
of criminals in a prison. 

The farm attached, consists of 700 acres, some of which appeared 
to me to be rather poor land : a thin soil on limestone ; but it is well 
cultivated. Upon it, besides the ordinary out houses, is a veterinary 
hospital. 

There are accommodations here for two hundred students, but only 
fifty now belong to the school. Those residing in the building pay 
$355 annually; those who board elsewhere, $175. Formerly the 
school was open for the sons of the smaller farmers, but could not find 
support on that plan, and it was found, that if these attended, the 
"wealthier classes would not send their sons. The price, accordingly, 
has been raised, and none but the sons of gentlemen, such as clergy- 
men and wealthy laymen, now attend. None of the nobility send their 
children, although many give their money for its support. 

John Wilson, F. R. S. E., to whom I am much indebted for giving 
me every facility for learning the character and condition of the school, 



216 lectures. 


»2 to 172 


ti * 


- 432 


hours. 


180 lectures. 


- 180 


ti 


- 108 


ti 


72 


u 



12 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

is at present the principal and professor of the science and practice of 
Agriculture. With him are associated a professor of chemistry and 
chemical manipulation ; one of geology, natural history and botany ; 
one of mathematics and natural philosophy ; one of veterinary practice, 
and one of practical surveying and engineering. The instruction is 
mainly by lectures and subsequent examination, save that the pupils 
spend about half the day upon the farm, and most of them devote a 
good deal of time to practical chemistry. The instruction extends over 
three years, or six sessions ; the first year being devoted to practical 
agriculture. The courses of lectures, and their number, are as 
follows : 
Science and practice of Agriculture, 3d, 4th, 5th, 

and 6th sessions, ..... 
Chemistry and chemical manipulation, 3d, 4th, 5th, 

and 6th sessions, ..... 
Devoted to practical chemistiy, .... 
Botany, geology and zoology, all the sessions, - 
Veterinary practice, " " . 

Mathematics, 3d and 4th sessions, ... 
Natural philosophy, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th sessions, . 
Surveying and practical engineering, 5th and 6th sessions, 72 " 

To give a better idea of the nature of these lectures, I quote below a 
few abstracts of one or two of the courses. 

Science and practice of Agriculture. Fourth Session. 

The Botany of Agriculture. 

" The character and nature of the various agricultural plants, indig- 
enous weeds, kitchen vegetables, fruit and forest trees, vegetable substan- 
ces cultivated for, and used as food, and economic purposes." 

The Geology of Agriculture. 

" Condition and extent of surface soils : their influence on Agri- 
culture, — local variations, conditions under which the different strata 
were deposited, — their composition, — mode of disintegration, — manner 
in which nature supported her own vegetation before man existed, — 
general surface geology of Great Britain." 

TTie Physics of Agriculture. 

" Meteorology, including climate, — mechanics, in reference to imple- 
ments and machinery, — hydrodynamics, — the general laws of heat, 
light and electricity, as affecting the vegetable kingdom." 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 13 

Veterinary Practice. 
Division of the animal kingdom into four great groups. 

1. Vertebrata. 

2. MoUusca. 

3. Articulata. 

4. Radiata. 

".Vertebrata, — 1st class of, — mammalia, — considered and general 
structure described. 

Character and habits of the 7th order, — pachydermata, including the 
horse, the ass, and the hog. Of the 8th order, — ruminantia, — including 
the cow, sheep, deer and goat — more particularly considered." 

Fourth Session. 

" Structure of the animals in these two orders described, including, 
first, an account of the general anatomy and physiology of the ele- 
mentary tissues of animals, — adipose, — vesicular, — epidermic, — carti" 
lage, — bone, — teeth, — cellular, muscular, and nervous tissues, — fibrous, 
.serous, and mucous membranes. Secondly, special anatomy of each 
animal, — the peculiarities of construction and the functions of its various 
organs and parts, — the head, neck, body, leg, foot, — points to be con- 
sidered in the selection of animals, dependant on a proper knowledge 
of their anatomical structure." 

Fifth Session. 

" Pathology and treatment of disease, — description of the various 
diseases incidental to the domesticated animals, as farcy, glanders, 
spavins, splints, curbs, capped hocks, sandcracks, cracked heels, blind- 
ness, &;c. in the horse, — pleuro pneumonia, jaundice, red water, 
murrain, &;c. in cattle, — rot, jaundice, dysentery, pneumonia, sturdy, 
dec. in sheep, — scrofula, measles, &c. in pigs, — their general causes, — 
mode of attack, — treatment, including medicines and operations, — neu- 
rotomy, bleeding, blistering, firing, &c. — precautions necessary." 

Sixth Session. 

" The principles of breeding, rearing and feeding animals, — with 
examples, showing the benefit of their application. The treatment of 
stock, — stable management. The business and duties of the forge, — 
shoeing, clipping, singeing, &;c. General remarks." 

The collections in natural history are not large, but the library is 
well selected and rich in Agricultural works. 

Students are admitted only upon the nomination of a proprietor or 
donor of $133, and of an age between sixteen and twenty. They 



14 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

" must at least bo thoroughly well versed in the routine of a liberal 
education, in which they will be required to pass a strict examination 
before admission." 

It will be seen, that the object of this college is not to fit men to be- 
come laborers on the farm, but to prepare them to be intelligent pro- 
prietors of farms, or to superintend those of others. 

I was informed that this institution, which appears to be well organ- 
ized, has met with a good deal of opposition from the lower and the 
higher classes, and Mr. Wilson feared that he might not be able to 
sustain it long in its present form. A rumor reached me before leaving 
England, that he liad been obliged to include instruction in other 
branches of literature and science, in order to attract a sufilcicnt num- 
ber of pupils, but I cannot vouch for the truth of the report. From 
the unhappy operation, in this case, of caste in English society, and 
from the want of governmental patronage, we might reasonably an- 
ticipate, not merely embarrassment, but even failure, as facts respect- 
ing other schools will show. 

Training Schools. 

There arc several schools by this name in England, in which agri- 
culture forms a part, and an important part, of the instruction ; but 
they embrace, also, the common branches of education. Usually a 
farm is attached to them. They form the second, or lower grade, of 
agricultural schools, and are mostly sustained by individual enterprise. 
1 visited but one of these, of which a brief account only is necessary. 

Agricultural Training School at Hoddesdon, Herts. 

Mr. Ilaselwood is head master of this school, with whom are associ- 
ated four other gentlemen as lecturers. They lecture upon the follow- 
ing subjects : 

Chemistry and chemical manipulation. 

Cattle physiology and pathology. 

Botany, geology and natural history. 

Practical mechanics and natural philosophy. 

Practical surveying, levelling and draining. 
Instruction is also given in the classics, and in the French and Ger- 
man languages. And separate classes are formed for those pupils who 
are not sufliciently advanced to attend the lectures and laboratory. 
The present number of students is thirty-five, but a small part of whom 
attend to agriculture. Opportunity is given for chemical manipulation, 
but not, as appeared to me, of a very elevated character. The speci- 
mens in natural history are few ; but the philosophical apparatus and 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 15 

library, good. The farm attached, consists of three hundred acres, and 
includes a fine garden. Tlic students arc not compelled to labor 
abroad, but usually spend the latter half of the day in some out door 
pursuit, such as levelling, &c. There are two vacations of about six 
weeks each, one in summer and the other in winter ; but there is not 
any fixed time for completing the course of study. The charge yearly 
is $140. I was pleased with the appearance of the premises, (it being 
vacation,) and am much indebted to the urbanity of the head master. 
The school was established in 1845. 

Prayers arc attended morning and evening, and attendance on wor- 
ship on the Sabbath is required. 

Agricultural Grammar School, KimhoUon. 

I did not visit this institution, but received an account of it from the 
head master, Rev. .John Thornton, M. A. It was originally a gram- 
mar school with a snuill endowment, and was reopened last year with 
a view to connect agriculture and its collateral sciences with literary 
instruction. Three other instructors arc associated with Mr. Thornton, 
who give instruction in land surveying, the rudiments of agricultural 
chemistry, the veterinary art, geology, draining, entomology, vegetable 
physiology and mechanics. In a list of the half yearly examination, I 
find pupils in the following subjects : Arithmetic, mechanics, trigonom- 
etry, geography, Latin, Greek, French, history, algebra, Euclid's Ele- 
ments, analytical trigonometry and agricultural chemistry. It was intend- 
ed to have a farm attached, but the want of funds has prevented the exe- 
cution of the plan. The present number of pupils is fifty, and there are 
three classes weekly manipulating in the laboratory. The cost to the 
pupil varies from $111 to $133. Hitherto it has been sustained in a 
good measure by subscriptions from public spirited gentlemen, — of the 
nobility, and others, — as is the Iloddesdon school ; but now it rests 
solely upon the head master. It is " a grammar school," says Mr. 
Thornton, " where several subjects, not taught in schools generally, arc 
taught, such as chemistry, botany, &c. 

Several other institutions, similar to the above, exist in England. 
Near Kennington, not far from London, is the Scientific and Agricul- 
tural Academy, under the care of A. Ncsbit and sons, which gives an 
education to those intended for the arts, manufactures and agriculture. 
There is a training school in the city of York, and I believe in other 
places, but I did not deem it necessary to visit many of them, as agri- 
culture is only one of the studies pursued there. 



16 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

IRELAND. 

Agricultural education in Ireland presents itself under two phases. 
1. In connection with the colleges. 2. In connection with the system 
of national schools. 

1. In connection with the Colleges. 

There are three colleges in Ireland called Queen's College ; one at 
Gal way, one at Cork, in the southerly part of the Island, and the other at 
Belfast, in the northeasterly part. I visited only the latter, bCit became 
acquainted with the president of that at Cork, from whom I obtained an 
account of the system of instruction pursued there. Concerning that 
at Galway, I have no information ; but presume its organization to 
be similar to the others. 

These institutions are, in fact, universities, having faculties in litera- 
ture, science, medicine and law. At Belfast there are twenty pro- 
fessors, besides the president ; and at Cork, twenty-one. Among these 
chajrs, one is a professorship of agriculture, filled by Edward Murphy, 
A. B. at Cork, and by John F. Hodges, M. D. at Belfast. The course of 
study and of lectures extends through two years, when the student re- 
ceives, if accepted, a " Diploma of Agriculture." The courses of 
lectures embrace, in the first year, natural philosophy, chemistry, nat- 
ural history, and the theory of agriculture ; in the second year, geolo- 
gy and mineralogy, history and diseases of farm animals, land survey- 
ing and the practice of agriculture. The details of these courses 
could be given, if wished for by the committee. 

On the model and experimental farm, (comprising 180 acres at Cork,) 
and in the botanical gardens adjoining the colleges, and in connection 
with them, the students have an opportunity of becoming acquainted 
with the best kind of farm animals and machines, and with the manual 
and mechanical operations of practical agriculture, horticulture and ar- 
boriculture, being accompanied in their visits to see such objects and 
processes, by their instructors, as well as in various excursions of natural 
history. 

Students who attend the agricultural lectures may be matriculated or 
non-matriculiatcd. The former pay $33 each year, to the college ; the 
latter pay $9 for attendance upon any separate course of lectures. 
They also pay $3 annually for access to the library, which is well 
furnished with agricultural publications, to which the matriculated stu- 
dents have access without charge. 

In each of these colleges are four scholarships of Agriculture, of 
the value of $67, two for each year. Candidates for these undergo 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 17 

certain examinations. For the first year, they must have passed the ma- 
triculation examination, viz.: in English grammar, composition and arith- 
metic, and then in the following subjects : English grammar and compo- 
sition, the first four rules of arithmetic, vulgar and decimal fractions, 
involution and evolution, proportion and simple interest, mensuration, 
book-keeping, outlines of modern geography. For the second year, 
the examinations are in the general principles of heat, chemistry, 
mechanics and hydrostatics, elements of botany and zoology, theory 
and composition of manures, and feeding of farm animals. 

Candidates for the diploma of agriculture pay to the college the first 
year, $33 ; for the second, $31. If they have scholarships, they pay 
only $20 the first year, and $18 the second. 

The laboratory at Belfast college appeared to me to be fitted up in 
superior style, and to afford rare facilities for those students wishing to 
engage in manipulations. 

For these facts I am indebted to Sir Robert Kane, president of Cork 
College, and to Professor Andrews, vice president of that at Belfast, 
with both of whom I had the honor and pleasure of an acquaintance, 
and to whose kind attentions I am much indebted. 

These colleges have been opened only a little more than a year, 
and therefore it is not possible to determine how far agricultural lec- 
tures will attract students. At the first course in Belfast, I was told, 
only six or eight attended. 

2. Agricultural Institutions in connection with the National Schools. 

I would gladly give an account of the whole system of the National 
Schools in Ireland, for its features appear to me quite interesting, and 
to promise much for that country. I can only say, that in addition to 
the common schools, the system embraces model schools, training 
schools, industrial female schools, work-house schools, evening schools, 
and Agricultural Schools. These are all under the superintendence 
of a board of commissioners, appointed by government, who make an 
annual report. Dublin is the centre of operations, where model schools 
exist, with suitable and extensive buildings. There the superintend- 
ent of all the schools resides ; who, at present, is the Right Honorable 
Alexander Macdonald. Through the unsolicited kindness of Hon. Mr. 
Monsell of the British Parliament, I was mtroduced to Mr. Macdonald, 
and received from him all the aid I needed. 

There are two grades of the Agricultural Schools, — the " Model 
Agricultural Schools," and the " Ordinary Agricultural Schools." The 
pupils in the latter, usually quite young, if distinguished, pass into the 
3 



Ift AriRKMII/rifUAI. S(;[r()()LS. [Jan. 

(uiiiu'i', ;iii(l ;ifi' (illi'il Id liccoinc Icncliri's. In ;ill llirsc scliools of 
• •very ^■nidc, lilcrary iiistniclidii is (•(iinliincd uilli n^ricultiinil ; and, 
intlrcd, llic ordiiiiiry scIiooIm an' only rjciriciitary si-liools, in wliicli 
a|.^riciillin'c is lanjflil. 

Diode/ Sc/iDo/ iinil l''iinii a! ( i/tisiirriii. 

'I'lic ccnlral ami niosl ini|M)i-|anI oC Ihc IMndcl A^iicnllin'al Scdiools 
is situulcd at ( !lasn(^vin, in lln' snhuilis dC I »ultlin. l\lr. Macdonald wns 
kind ('n(in}i;Ii l<> ciMidiifl. nic tliitlici', and I liad, (•(insccnii'ntly , ri jfood 
.())>|Miilunil V f"'>r ils cvaniinalliMi. Il is siliiatrd on a (arm >A' I'JN acrns, 
4)1' good soil, and llio present head lcai'li(;r is Mr. l)oMa}j;liy, to vvliom I 
(<•(•! under <^reat ol)Iigati(»ns for the tinici and attention Ik; devot(Ml to 
Hatisfy my im|niries. 

This institution was estahlislied in IM;{H, and its <rrand olijeii is to 
(rain n|> teachers for othiM' Sidiools ; several lnnidn>ds of whom have 
already lieen sent out, and are spreadin^f the Kno\\le(l<^e here "ained 
in other parts of Irelaml. The jireseiit imndiei- o|' pupils is ahoul 
(ifly. lint hnildini's are now in a course of eiiction for one hundred, 
at an adilitional cost of iftci 1,IK^!>. '{""he pupils receive literary as \v(dl as 
aj^rieultural instruction. The princi])al lectures are on practical as well 
as theoretical ajfriculture. The morniiurs as well as eveniuij;s arc! (\r- 
voted to sl\alv, hut a laryv part of the day to lahor. 'i'welve poor 
l)(»ys are placed Iku'o for instruction, for whose education and hoard 
the princijial receixcs !iff|.7r)per week. 'I'h(> hoys also receivt" six- 
pence per week, (ahoiit 1\vel\e cents,) which thi' teaidier told me was 
a sutlicient stimulus to kei'p them at work. Most of the pupils, I 
should jud<^'e, are over t\\<Mit\' years of ajn-. It was vacation when I 
was ther(% yet some thirtv or forty had remained to work on tiie farm, 
niid I very thankfully aceepleil an invitation to listen to an examination 
of the younjf men in ihi' studies they liad heeu tauidit. More than 
twenty chcerfidly came in from the held, and without (dianj^iiii;- their 
dress, passed a very CHMlitahle examination upon th(- various priiK-iples 
of practical and th(>oretical aj:;riculture, in connection with its associ- 
ateil sciences. 1 am sure that they caimol carr\ ahroad such princi- 
ples as they h(>re presented, without doiui:; inuuens<' hi'iielil to im- 
poverished Ireland. 

On the farm, the principles tau>!;ht in the school are practically illus- 
trated. 1 walked over the lields, and have u<'ver, in any country, secMi 
crops as liiu", taken as a whole, of wheat, oats, heans, lla.\ and potatoes. 
The oats would probably yiidd »>iffhty bushels to the aero, and the po- 
latcH's hid fair to produce scivcn hundred husluds, the disease having 



1851.] HOUSH No. r.{. 19 

not, llicii sliovvti itscir. It is nil ohjccl willi lln; cullurist to carry on 
tlio furin iuiil \u:r.\> it in u njood Hliitc, without, jfoinj^ bcjyond it Coi' ni.i- 
niirc. A indicioiis rotation of crojiH jrrcally aids lliis ol»i<<-l, and I 
|j(di<'vo tiial, ordinaiily, manure is applied only onco in (our years. 

TIk; pupils have ac.cf^ss to a ^ood aj^ricultural lihniry, l)ut, I saw no 
(tolleclions in natural history, nor in any iillnr departnieni, indc^crd, 
The placj;, however, hein^ oiily three miles i'rom Duhliii, the, pupils 
can nisort, thithiu- ("or instruction in niitural history, and tin; inspection 
of specimens. 'I'here is a nniseum o(" economic j/;eolo(4y theie, vvhi<di 
will <•!■(! loji;^ iiJlord ^fn•Aii liiciliticiS to |)Upils. 

TIk! pu|)ils at (ilasnevin are scdc^cled liy tin; conmiissionern Crom the 
most desfuvint;' and lahnted youn^ men in the v.arious a^riindtural 
schools in tlu; kingdom ; so tliat )i(!r<; w«! mi^ht expectt to (ind pupils ol" 
a hij^h charact,er. if they can sii(tc(;<-d in extending the skill and 
prodiiclivi iiess i'.\hihil<<l on this miwlel ("arm, throughout Ireland, I am 
C'Jiihdent we should hear no more of lier |»oj(ulalion ar; slai'vin^. 

'J'Ik! mastctroC this school pays a rent (or this liirm, I Ixdieveas hijj;h 
as $22 per ac.re, increased t(j ^'.ir* hy t;i,\eK and othei' <'Xjii'nseii. ^'el, 
Uccordiii}^ t.o Mi'. (/«ilm;ui, he is ahle to make his lahi*rn prolitahle. 

harm' Ntilliniii/ Africiilliirdl Sr/mnl. 

Ur the smaller model .schools, I visite<i that at Lai'ne, uh(jut twenty 
miloH north of IJelCasl, (Jii the coast. 'I'his school has lon;^ been in 
SUCCOHsful o|)eration. 'I'he ({lasn(!vin hcIiooI receives (jnly in-(h>or 
Hchohirs, hut that at liarne Ixjth in-door and out-door scholars ; that is, 
HU(di as hoard in llw; estahlishnMMit and such as hoard (Hit. Only a 
i)arl oC liie puj)ils of llie school, whi(dt is a national one, allend to 
aj^riiMilture. 'The pr<;s(;nt head mast<;r is Mr. MM)ojnie||, vvIkj seemed 
to m<r lilie his |)re(le-c(;ssoi', Mr. l)oiiaM;liy, now at («lasnevin, well <jnali- 
fied to uniti: the ijuties <i(' a literary teacher with those oC a j)ractie,al 
affi'icultural instructor. Tin; ("ui'iii consists oC only seven acres. Y(!t 
in IH'IH, he, mainfain<;<l on tliis small plot of .nroiuid, in the very hest 
condition, tiiiee milcdi cows, two calves, ('our piji^s, and one donkey, and 
raiKf^] hesi(h;s H'2S cwt. of wlieat, 2H cwt. of oats, and 21 cwt. of 
potatoes. The crops ^rriwinj^ this yr;ar, whicli Mr. M""!). showed me, 
appeared unusually (inc. 

Tlie in-door pujnis j)ay .'ft.'il a year, inclndin<f instruction and hoard, 
or if upon scliolarships, oidy $2^. 'V\\<: out-door pupils jiay for in- 
struction, $17 amiiially. 'i'he hoarders work on the (arm from G to H,, 
and from 10 to 12 A. M., and fnnn 4 to (5 J'. M. I"'roni 12 to U 
o'cl(H;k dally llir;y study in tlie school room, in agrir;ultijre as a H(;ience 



20 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

as well as in literature ; also, from 6 to 8 P. M., in an evening class 
under the superintendence of a teacher. They are not admitted under 
fifteen years of age, nor without a certificate of moral character. 
The course is of two or three years' duration, according to the age and 
acquirements of the pupils. 

The agricultural instruction " embraces the principles of chemistry ; 
the formation, nature, and difference of soils ; the rotations of cropping 
best suited to such varieties ; draining, trenching, and subsoiling, and 
the principles upon which their efficacy depends ; house feeding of 
cattle, and its advantages ; the constitution and properties of the 
different manures; the proper divisions of farms, &c., &c." To 
this is added a well grounded course of English education in reading, 
writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, book-keeping, men- 
suration, land surveying, gauging, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and 
navigation. 

Although it was out of school hours when I visited the establishment, 
Mr. M'D. offered to give me a sample of the proficiency of the pupils, 
and called in a few for this purpose. Although quite young, — not so 
old as fifteen, — they passed a very creditable examination upon agri- 
culture, and some of the sciences, and the impression was strong upon 
my mind, that if large numbers of the youth of Ireland were thus 
instructed, from all classes in society, it must exert a great influence 
upon the agriculture of the country, especially when we know that 
they see the principles which they learn, fully and successfully carried 
out into practice upon the farms connected with the schools. 

About one-quarter of the pupils at Glasnevin are Protestants, and 
the others Catholics, and this may be about the general proportion 
between the two denominations in the country. But such arrange- 
ments have been made, that each class receives religious instruction 
from clergymen selected by the parents or guardians. If the teacher 
of the school wishes to communicate religious instruction, he gives 
public notice of the time and place, and the pupils can attend or not, ac- 
cording to the wishes of their parents, or their own. 

Other Model Schools. 

Not less than twelve other Model Agricultural Schools were in opera- 
tion in Ireland in July, 1850. Mr. Macdonald kindly furnished me with a 
list of them up to that date, as follows : Markethill, in Armagh county : 
Hollyrood, in Down : Carrick, in Fermanagh : Longhash in Tyrone ' 
Sallybank and Belvoir, in Clare : Rahan, in King's county : Loughrea and 
Ballynakill, in Galway : Kile Park, in Tipperary : Bailieborough,in Ca- 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 21 

van, and Dunmanway, in Cork. Besides these, building grants have been 
made by the commissioners in ten other places, viz.: Dunlewy, in Done- 
gal: Bath, in Monaghan : Mount Trenchard and Tervoe, in Limeric : 
Ardfinnan and Derrycastle, in Tipperaiy : Woodstock, in Kilkenny : 
Leitrim, in Leitrim : and Glandore and Farraghy, in Cork. 

The following are the essential conditions adopted by the commis- 
missioners, upon which they establish model schools : — 

1. " The commissioners will take land, from eight to thirty acres, for 
the purpose of model farms, at a moderate rent, on a lease of at least 
' three lives or thirty-one years.' " 

2. The lease must contain a clause of surrender every fourth year. 

3. The commissioners will not commence rent, nor enter upon the 
land, except the portion upon which the buildings are to be erected, 
until the 25th of March, or the 29th of September next ensuing after 
the completion of the works. 

4. The commissioners will grant towards the building, a sum not 
exceeding $1,776, unless in cases where they may deem it desirable to 
provide two school-rooms. The remaining portion of the expenditure 
must be locally subscribed, and the amount of local contribution must 
be lodged in the Bank of Ireland, to the credit of the commissioners, 
before the works are commenced. 

5. The buildings will be put up to tender ; they are to be erected 
under the supervision of the architect to our Board, or of the clerks of 
works ; and the grants will be paid by instalments on their reports. 

6. The commissioners will furnish the dormitories and school-house. 

7. The commissioners will supply (in the first instance) the neces- 
sary stock, farming implements, seed, &c., &c. 

8. The commissioners will contribute $33 towards the maintenance 
of two resident agricultural pupils, provided the pupils or their friends 
contribute a like sum. 

9. Where one teacher only is required, the commissioners will 
grant $44 a year for his services as agriculturist, in addition to his 
class-salary as literary teacher. 

10. Where the farm consists of fifteen acres, or upwards, the com- 
missioners will grant a salary to an agriculturist, not exceeding $133 a 
year, and also to a literary teacher according to his class. 

11. The commissioners will require the teacher or agriculturist to 
pay a moderate rent for the land, and all taxes, rates, &c., allowing 
him the profits arising from the farm. They will also require him to 
enter into arrangements for keeping up the supply of stock, imple- 
ments, &c., &c., and for providing for permanent repairs. 



22 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

12. The agriculturist will be required to conduct the operations of 
the farm according to the directions of the agricultural inspector, and 
must furnish accounts in the form prescribed by the commissioners. 
He must also submit annually to the board, to be laid before Parliament, 
a statement of the working and progress of the farm during the past 
year. 

13. The commissioners, in consideration of the large amount of 
expenditure incurred by them, and the land being vested in them, 
deem it indispensable that they shall have the exclusive management of 
the Model Agricultural Schools ; the right of appointing and removing 
the teachers and resident agricultural pupils ; the latter to be selected 
from among the pupils of the National Schools in the district in which 
the model agricultural school is situated." 

It is a most important fact to be noticed respecting all the Agricul- 
tural Schools of Ireland, and indeed of all Europe, that are sustained 
by the governments, (excepting perhaps in a few colleges,) that a farm, 
larger or smaller, is always connected with the school, so that the 
theories taught are there tested and exhibited in practice. Indeed, on 
the continent, in some places, unless the attached farm can be made to 
exhibit a state of cultivation fully equal to any around it, the govern- 
ment withdraws its support. In these facts we see that the objection so 
often urged in all countries against agricultural schools, that they teach 
mere theory, is done away with ; for here, unless the instructors can 
show the truth of their theories in practice, they lose all patronage. 
Who can ask for a more severe test of theory than this ^ 

Ordinary Agricultural Schools. 

These are the elementary national schools, to which land, to the 
amount of two or three acres, is attached, and instruction in agriculture 
is given by the schools to those pupils who desire it. The only aid 
which they receive from the public funds is an addition to the master's 
salary of $22. " He pays the manager a moderate rent for the farm," 
say the commissioners in their report for 1849-50, " and receives the 
amount of the produce sold." These schools are, in general, working 
successfully, and have furnished satisfactory proof that literary and 
agricultural instruction can be practically united, without counteracting 
or encroaching upon each other. One inspector of Agricultural 
Schools, Dr. Kirkpatrick, has been active in the discharge of his im- 
portant duties. All the existing Agricultural Schools have been visited 
by him once during the year, the majority of them twice, and several 
more frequently. In his report he observes, — " I feel gratified in ex- 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 23 

pressing my strong conviction, that it is perfectly practicable, and emi- 
nently useful, to combine with the ordinary branches of a sound English 
education, as taught in our national schools, such an elementary course 
of agricultural instruction as shall prepare youths for the higher branches 
of agricultural science, should the opportunity of acquiring such 
knowledge be presented to them, and what is of still greater moment, 
shall teach them to avoid those grossly defective methods of farming, 
hitherto practised and still in too general use, throughout the greater 
part of Ireland." The commissioners add : " We are of opinion that 
the chief good that can be effected by us in the way of agricultural 
improvement, is by blending, in as many of our 4500 schools as pos- 
sible, instruction in agriculture, and daily occupation in agriculture, 
with the literary instruction already given in those schools. Should 
the plan proposed by us be largely adopted throughout Ireland, im- 
proved agricultural knowledge and skill will be diffused throughout 
every part of the country and throughout the whole mass of the rural 
population. The boy taught in one of those schools will be enabled, 
in after life, to contribute his full share to the agricultural prosperity of 
the country, whether his vocation be that of a farm laborer, a small 
farmer, or a large farmer. He will, from his childhood, be taught to 
labor on the land, and to labor skilfully, to see displayed the rotation 
of crops, the application of manures, the management of cattle, the 
art of trenching and draining land. Every habit thus acquired by 
him, every kind of agricultural knowledge thus conveyed to him upon 
the limited farm of the teacher, will be equally serviceable to him, 
should he in after life become a large farmer, or if he never rise above 
the condition of a cottier." 

According to the list furnished me by Mr. Macdonald, the number of 
these ordinary agricultural schools in Ireland, in operation last summer, 
was thirty-four, a list of which will be found in the synoptical table 
appended to this report. Many other applications for their establish- 
ment are under consideration, and they will no doubt be soon greatly 
multiplied. 

This placing of agricultural instruction within the reach of the 
humblest classes of society, is a feature of the Irish system which 
gives it a great superiority to the English, especially as a model for our 
imitation. For were such schools among us confined to certain 
classes, and they the wealthy, it would produce little else than mis- 
chief. We can, however, more easily make this instruction accessible 
to all in our country, on account of the good education received here 
by the poorest classes. We can start from a higher level than can be 
done in any European country. 



24 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

The whole amount paid by the Irish commissioners in 1848-9 (April 
to April,) for all the national schools, was $567,331. Of this sum, as 
nearly as I can ascertain, $11,000 was appropriated to the Agricultural 
Schools, a fact that shows the liberality of the government and their 
sense of the importance of this class of schools ; and yet, we shall 
see that some of the continental governments are far more liberal. In 
Ireland the wages of instructors are quite low, as well as the board of 
the pupils ; quite different from what is the case in England. In short, 
the system adopted there, appears to me to be in successful operation, 
and to afford many useful hints to those who are seeking to establish 
agricultural schools for the whole people. 

The salaries paid to the regular teachers in the national schools, (in- 
cluding, I suppose, the agricultural,) varies from $67 to $133. In- 
structors of the model agricultural schools receive a gratuity of $44, 
and of ordinary agricultural schools, of $22. 

In addition to the schools above described, I ought to mention that in 
the work-house schools, amounting to 111, where paupers ai'e taught, 
instruction in agriculture is given. 

Agricultural Schools sustained by private Associations. 
Templemoyle School. 

Besides the schools under governmental control, and fostered by the 
public funds, a few others exist in Ireland. The most distinguished of 
them is at Templemoyle, near Londonderry, in the north part of the 
island. It " was founded in 1827, by the North West of Ireland Society, 
on the plan of Fellenberg's School at Hofwyl, in Switzerland. At 
first, in imitation of Fellenberg's plan, two branches of the school were 
established ; one for the sons of the wealthy, the other for the poor. 
But a short and expensive trial convinced the society that they could 
not sustain both establishments ; and they wisely gave up the more 
expensive one, and confined their whole means and attention to the 
more practical and industrial school for the poor. This is probably one 
grand reason why the school at Templemoyle still lives, and has done 
a great deal of good, while that at Hofwyl has been abandoned. 

The pupils in the Templemoyle school are children neither of the 
wealthy, nor of the very poor, but rather of " honest and industrious 
farmers ;" and from the education which they receive, they are pre- 
pared " to act, either as the managers, or stewards, of the landed pro- 
prietors ; as improving farmers on their own account ; or as masters 
in other schools of a still more industrial character." Hence a good 
deal of time is devoted to scholastic training, as well as instruction 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 25 

strictly agricultural. Botany and chemistry are introduced, as well as 
lectures on the veterinary art ; and the culture of forest trees, a nur- 
sery, and a flower and vegetable garden. 

The internal regulations of this school as to hours of rising and re- 
tiring, labor and study, week days and Sundays, diet, &c., &c., appear 
to be judicious, and adapted to the strictest economy. But as they 
are given fully in Mr. Colman's reports, I judge it unnecessary to copy 
them. 

The farm contains 169 acres, a part of which is cultivated upon the 
four shift, and a part upon the five shift, rotation system, as it is called. 
The annual charge to a scholar is reckoned at about $44. Up to 1838, 
the contributions and payments from pupils and others had amounted to 
$35,520. This had all been expended, and a debt of some $2,000 
was due from the school, but was gradually diminishing, and the cir- 
cumstances of the school have been growing more favorable, and its 
influence increasing. 

Those who had left the seminary previous to September, 1838, were 
distributed as follows : 

29 are employed as land stewards, 
2 as assistant agents, 

5 as schoolmasters, 

1 as principal of an agricultural day school, 
8 as writing clerks, 

6 as shop-keepers, 

1 as civil engineer, 

2 as assistants to county surveyors, 

124 are employed at home in agricultural pursuits, 
32 have emigrated to America, the West Indies and Australia, 
39 left the seminary since Sept. 1835, not having remained 
twelve months. 
Most of the preceding facts have been obtained from Col. J. E.. 
Portlock's Report on the Geology of the County of Londonderry, &c.„ 
Dublin, 1843. 

At Brookfield, twelve miles from Belfast, a similar school was a 
few years since sustained by the Society of Friends, with a farm of 
fifty acres. Here the common branches of learning, as at Temple- 
moyle, are taught, along with agriculture ; such as " reading, writing, 
arithmetic, geography, the catechism and scripture history.'*' There is 
only one male teacher with a female assistant, who are both under the 
direction of a man and his wife, who act as master and matron. Forget- 
fulness prevented me from making enquiries respecting this school, 
when at Belfast, so that I can say nothing as to its present condition. 
4 



26 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

SCOTLAND. 

Although Scotland has, within the last half century, been distin- 
guished for her progress in practical farming, she has no agricultural 
schools, save a professorship of that department in two of her univer- 
sities, viz.: one in Mavischal college in Aberdeen, and another in the 
University of Edinburgh. I have understood that the former has not 
succeeded in attracting many students, although filled by an able 
chemist. Dr. Smith, and I am unable to state its present condition. 
But having looked into this department of the university of Edinburgh, 
and having received some statements from the gentleman who fills the 
chair, Professor David Low, I will give a brief account of it. 

Several rooms in the university buildings are devoted to this depart- 
ment. There we find exhibited, numerous models of agricultural 
implements, and of buildings, chiefly barns and outhouses, for the 
farm. Also seeds and dried plants, marls and soils, chemical substan- 
ces, a few skeletons and anatomical drawings, and, more particularly, 
as many as a hundred fine drawings, mostly as large as life, of the 
best breeds of domestic animals. These drawings are chiefly given 
by Professor Low, in his two works on the domesticated animals. 

Professor Low has been so obliging as to give me on paper a num- 
ber of facts respecting his professorship, and he has added some 
remarks, which may be of use to Massachusetts should she establish 
agricultural schools, and therefore I give the whole in his own words. 

Edinburgh, 19(h August, 1850. 

Dear Sir, — I have not published any syllabus of my course of 
lectures, but the arrangement of the more practical branches is the 
same as in the last edition of my Elements of Practical Agriculture, 
which work, indeed, was mainly designed as a text book for the course. 
Another branch is added, of importance in this country, namely, the 
management of landed property, comprehending the subject of the 
buildings and other appendages of the farm, of leases, and generally 
the relations between landlord and tenant. 

The students consist chiefly of the sons of tenant farmers, — proprie- 
tors of land, or their sons, — agents having the charge of landed prop- 
erty, — and a mixed class frequently from other countries, who are de- 
sirous to obtain a knowledge of the system of agriculture, as it is 
pursued in this country. 

The younger students generally fill up the period of the session by 
attending other classes in the university, or of private teachers, chiefly 
chemistry and natural history, and several of them likewise attend the 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 27 

course of lectures delivered in this city by Professor Dick, on veterina- 
ry surgery. 

I have found by experience, that it is not necessary to have a farm 
in connection with the Chair. All the essential points of practice be- 
ing previously explained, the students are prepared to enter upon the 
study of the subject in the fields. To this end, they usually board in 
the house of some respectable farmer for such a period as suits their 
convenience, not less, I recommend, than twelve months, so that they 
may see the operations of an entire season. There are numerous re- 
spectable farmers, both in the south of Scotland and in the north of 
England, who are in the habit of receiving pupils and instructing them 
in the different branches of their profession. The usual charge is 
<£100 a year ($444), and an allowance, where the pupil keeps ahorse, 
of .£25 more ($111). In the United States a less artificial system of 
management of land suffices than in this country, and I doubt if the 
sending young men to study on the farms of the country itself would 
have the same beneficial effects as in this. 

The means of communication are now so easy, that I think it would 
be worth the while of any American gentleman especially desirous of 
studying agriculture in a good school, to settle himself in this country 
for twelve months or more, under the tuition of a respectable and skil- 
ful practical agriculturist. 

I believe it is quite indispensable that a teacher, whether by means 
of academical lectures or otherwise, be himself thoroughly acquainted 
with the practice of the farm. He will otherwise be unable to give 
that kind of instruction to the students which will really be of use to 
them on their farms. If, therefore, you establish agricultural profes- 
sors in any of the American universities, I would recommend that the 
intended professor be sent to this country, so that he may be rendered 
thoroughly acquainted with the best practices of agriculture ; and the 
person chosen for this office should be one previously sufficiently in- 
structed in the different branches of physical science which have rela- 
tion to agriculture. I think if this were done, you would have no 
difficulty in getting professors for your universities who would attract 
students to their lectures. You ask me if members of the university 
attend the class. A few of my colleagues have done so, but generally, 
persons only do so who have some connection as proprietors, tenant 
farmers, or otherwise, with landed property. 

I enclose a list of the paintings of animals in the museum, the sub- 
ject of which is treated of in detail in my work on the domesticated 
animals. 

The management of landed property is of less interest in your 



28 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

country, but I beg you to accept of a copy of my work on this subject, 
which I think will enable me to exhaust the subject of your inquiry. 
I am, dear Sir, 

Yours very faithfully, 

David Low. 

A most important fruit of agricultural schools and professorships in 
Scotland and Ireland has been the preparation of books on the subject. 
In Ireland several have been published which are so well adapted to 
aid in elementary instruction, that they have been a good deal used in 
England. Professor Low has published several large and important 
works on this subject, to some of which, allusion has been made above. 
Such works cannot but produce important effects upon the progress of 
agriculture ; and the multiplication of schools and professorships of 
this sort, cannot fail to increase the number of works calculated to 
diffuse widely the ti'ue principles of husbandry. 

Both in England and Scotland, and indeed in Ireland also, agricul- 
tural societies have been an important means of advancing practical 
farming. Some intelligent gentlemen, whom I met abroad, were even 
of opinion that these societies were all that is needed, and that schools 
would be superfluous. But men do not so judge in respect to other 
departments of knowledge. Societies have long been in active and 
successful operation in the various physical sciences ; but they are 
not thought to render schools and colleges unnecessary. The societies 
aid the schools, but the schools must train up men to be efficient mem- 
bers of the societies. 

And here let me remark, that in my opinion, schools in addition to so- 
cieties are most needed in countries whose agriculture is not in the best 
state. England and Scotland can probably better dispense with schools 
of this sort than such a country as ours, where so much remains to be 
done to bring our farming up to the standard of those countries^ — or 
rather to a higher standard. 

But my special object in alluding to societies in this connection, was 
to call attention to the fine collections belonging to the Highland Ag- 
ricultural Society, and deposited in Edinburgh. Here we find two 
beautiful rooms and well lighted, one above the other, well filled with 
the following colh^ctions : 

1. Drawings of domestic animals. 

2. Agricultural implements, (small models.) 
"3. A great variety of seeds. 

4. Grasses and grains of full length, fastened to the wall. 

5. Blocks of wood, used in the arts, planed and varnished. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 29 

6. Specimens of rocks, soils and marls. 

7. Specimens of insects injurious to vegetation. 

8. A small green house. 

These rooms certainly afford a fine model for an agricultural mu- 
seum, and cannot but be very instructive to an intelligent farmer. 
They are just such collections as are appropriate for an Agricultural 
School. 

CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

It is now more than half a century since Agricultural Schools were 
first established on the continent of Europe. The two earliest, started 
in 1799, were those at Hofwyl, in Switzerland, and at Krumau, in 
Bohemia. The former no longer exists, but the latter is still in opera- 
tion. From that time to the present, individuals and societies have 
put such institutions into operation in various countries. Within a few 
years, however, there has been an extraordinary movement among the 
governments on this subject, and such schools have been rapidly mul- 
tiplied. I have visited a few of them, but derive a large part of my 
facts concerning them from an able report on this subject, by the 
French minister of agriculture and commerce, published during the 
present year. The great resemblance between these schools, in their 
general character, will enable me to be comparatively brief in my 
descriptions. 

FRANCE. 

" The institutions of society, like the laws," says the French minis- 
ter, " Avhich satisfy the real wants of the public, do not spring up spon- 
taneously. Their history shows us that they are always called for be- 
forehand by the public will, preceded by isolated efforts and partial 
attempts, up to the auspicious moment when the legislator, constrained 
by the general sentiment, and enlightened by the experiments already 
made, finds, so to speak, the basis and the materials all ready for the 
new edifice, called for by the new wants of the country." 

The earliest effort in France, and indeed in Europe, so far as I can 
learn, to establish an agricultural school, was made by M. L'Abbe 
Rosier, in 1775. He called it " a Plan for a National School of Agri- 
culture in the Park of Chambord ; " a place built as a retreat for the 
court in time of danger, by Francis I, at great expense. It was after- 
wards presented to Marshal Saxe. It had fallen into neglect, and Ro- 
sier's plan was to establish a school there for teachers, as well as practi- 
cal agriculturists ; not very different, indeed, from the plans now ex- 
tensively adopted in France. Rosier first proposed it to the French 



30 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan- 

minister, Turgot, in 1775, who received the plan with favor, but was 
driven from his place before he could carry it into execution. In 1789 
it was offered to the National Assembly, but received coldly, and when, 
in 1791, Rosier tried to recover his manuscript from the national ar- 
chives, it was found that it had disappeared. It was at last found to 
have been carried into Spain, from whence it was recovered. Meanwhile 
Rosier was killed in the seige of Lyons. Yet his patron, Le Comte 
de Neufchateau, developed his plan, and subsequently tried to interest 
Bonaparte in it. But he, finding that Chambord was originally a mili- 
tary post, chose to reserve it for that purpose, so that France lost the hon- 
or of being the first European nation to establish an agricultural school. 

It is not improbable, however, that this plan of Rosier might first 
have suggested to Fellenberg of Switzerland, the idea of the Hofwyl 
school, which w^as established in 1799, but has lately been discontinued. 

There was one feature of this plan of Rosier's, which should 
perhaps be mentioned, since it might be useful at this day, and 
indeed it has been adopted in some of the English schools, at least. 
To each pupil was assigned a small plot of ground, with all the instru- 
ments necessary to its cultivation, and he was to cultivate it according 
to the methods adopted in the region from whence he came ; receiving 
himself the income.* 

We now proceed to mention some of the earliest instances in France 
in which agricultural schools were actually established, although some 
of them were at length discontinued for want of funds. 

As early as 1818, M. de Domsbasle rented an estate at Roville, of 
375 acres, at $2,000, to make it a model farm, and a place of educa- 
tion. He was obliged to resort to a subscription of 45,000 francs, to 
put the establishment into operation, which was done in 1822. And 
for six years it flourished, and did much to awaken in France a taste 
for agricultural studies, and a reform in the defective modes of culture 
that prevailed. The results were published in a periodical, entitled i/te 
Annals of Roville, which diffused, far and wide, more enlightened views 
of agriculture than had prevailed. M. de Domsbasle, however, found 
that his funds were insufficient to sustain the establishment in a 

* I cannot understand why the French minister, in his able report on Agricultural Schools, 
wherein he describes many other pioneers in this work in France, (as we shall shortly see,) 
should pass Rosier in silence ; a man who presented a sagacious, and for the most part, a ju- 
dicious plan, for such schools, almost a half century earlier than any whom he does describe. 
Neither do I understand it, that while he speaks in the highest terms of the agriculture of 
Great Britain, he should mention as existing there, only one agricultural school,— that at 
Cirencester ,— whereas, at the time he wrote, not less than seventy such schools existed there, 
as the tabular view, annexed to this report, will show. The facts respecting the Abbe Ro- 
sier, I have derived from Porllock's Report on the Geology of Londonderry, &c., p. 711. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 31 

healthy state. The revolutions in France, also, brought on new em- 
barrassments, and he resorted to the government, which at last gave 
partial aid, but not enough to give permanency to the school ; and 
after a twenty years' struggle, finding his own constitution, and that of 
his wife broken down, he abandoned the enterprise in 1842. The 
example, however, doubtless did good, and led to the establishment of 
other schools, on a securer foundation. 

The Royal Agronomic Institution of Grignon was started in 1827, 
through the impulse given by the Roville school. This place is about 
twenty-five miles southwest of Paris, and twelve miles from Versailles. 
Favored above Roville in soil, capital, and patronage, it has had a 
more fortunate progress, and never was in a more prosperous condition 
than when I lately visited it. With a farm of 1250 acres, and receiv- 
ing yearly from the government about $12,000, it seems to be doing 
much for the agriculture of France. But I will delay a little a full 
description of this school upon its present organization, in order to 
speak of some others, started by individual enterprise, though aided by 
the government. 

The Institute of Coetbo was one of these. Its objects were to en- 
able agriculture in France to attain the degree of perfection it had 
reached in Great Britain, in Flanders, and in Switzerland ; to collect 
together from all the departments of France, pupils, who might return, 
amply prepared to teach a better system of agriculture ; to raise up a 
corps of agricultural engineers, prepared for any important enterprise 
in this department ; and finally, to furnish a wide field for experi- 
ments on the amelioration of farms, such as individuals could not un- 
dertake. 

The course of instruction for these objects was full, perhaps too full 
for a beginning, and without very large governmental patronage. For 
ere long the institution became so much embarrassed in its pecuniary 
concerns, that it was given up ; not, however, till it had produced a 
good impression on the public mind, and made it more and more mani- 
fest that such institutions were needed by the country, and that it only 
required a more liberal patronage from the state to give it permanence 
and extensive utility. 

When the Roville school was given up, one of the pupils went into 
Brittany, and took an estate of 1250 acres of very barren land, two- 
thirds of it being covered with heath, and by applying the scientific 
principles learnt at Roville, he reclaimed the soil to such an extent as 
to excite public attention, and lead at length, in 1833, to the establish- 
ment of the school of Grand Jouan, which still exists, though like that 
at Grignon, its organization is somewhat changed, as will be explained 



32 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

in the sequel. The success of this school, in such an unpromising 
spot, is one of the most striking examples of the importance of such 
institutions. 

In the southern part of France, another interesting experiment has 
been performed by another individual, M. Neviere, who caught his 
spirit from the Roville school. Between the Rhone and the Saone, 
not far from Lyons, there exists a region, of sixty-seven square leagues, 
which scarcely sufficed to sustain a scattered and miserable population, 
the mean length of whose lives did not exceed twenty-five years. 
The soil and climate are, indeed, naturally good ; but it is periodically 
inundated by 1600 or 1800 marshes and ponds, which bring pes- 
tilence with the overflow. M. Neviere purchased 1600 acres, and in 
two years succeeded in draining all the ponds, and introducing suc- 
cessful cultivation, with the most marked benefit as to health. Before 
the drainage was finished, the per centage of his domestics, sick with 
fevers, w^s as high as twenty, from June 15 to October 15. After the 
drainage, the proportion fell successively to six, five, three, and finally 
to one-half per cent. 

The school established in this region by M. Neviere, was at Saulsie, 
where was a model farm. Its objects were special ; adapted to the re- 
gion where it was placed. These objects were to show how operations 
could be conducted on a large scale, such as the raising of forage for 
cattle, and of the cereal grains. He probably laid his plans too large, 
at least for the limited aid he received from the government, and for 
a time the institution became almost extinct. But in 1848 the gov- 
ernment remodelled it, and it has since been in successful operation, on 
a plan to be shortly explained. 

The four institutions which I have now noticed, were intended to 
teach the higher principles of agriculture to proprietors of farms, to 
large farmers, and to managers of farms; in a word, to prepare the 
officers of the agricultui-al army. But the sub-officers, and rank and 
file, were not forgotten ; that is, the small cultivators, the master ser- 
vants, and servants of the farm. To some of the larger institutions 
were attached schools for the sons of the peasants, and for orphans, 
as it is now at Grand Jouan, but in no other school. Separate es- 
tablishments were also got up, under various forms ; such as farm 
schools, rural asylums, agricultural colonies, penitentiaries, model 
farms, farm schools, and schools of agriculture. Their object was to 
teach the elements of agriculture and show the pupils how to labor in 
the most judicious manner. The government favored these projects 
of individuals and charitable associations. But the unavoidable diffi- 
culties attending every new enterprise pressed so heavily upon them, 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 33 

that all of them might have failed had not the government come more 
efficiently to their aid. The expenses of instruction were supplied 
from the national treasury, and the owner of the farm did the best he 
could with the farm. Not less than nine of these schools were thus 
continued in operation till 1847, when many new ones were begun, so 
that they amounted to twenty-five at the close of that year. About 
that time the government took new and important measures in relation 
to agricultural education, whereby the number of the schools of all 
grades has been very much increased, and the whole system placed on 
a more substantial footing. 

This brief history seems to me important, chiefly because it records 
the failure of a number of agricultural schools, a point to be carefully 
looked at by those who are deliberating whether to attempt establishing 
similar institutions in other countries. The French minister makes 
some remarks on this subject worthy of a translation. 

" When we turn our attention," says he, " to this first phase of ag- 
ricultural instruction in France, it is trying to see the greater part of 
those establishments, which endeavored to rise, yield to the difficulties 
that met them at the outset. But reflection shows us that in this re- 
spect agriculture meets the fate of all human institutions, which arise 
in new conditions, and must pass through the changes of progress. 
The first who engage in them exhaust themselves in opening a path, 
so that those who follow may find it cleared, and may there gather the 
fruit of the sweat and labor of those who have gone before them. 
Rarely does he who opens the path arrive at the end of it, so that the 
history of discoveries, of ameliorations, and of advancement, is only 
the recital of the trials and the ruin of those to whom humanity is most 
indebted." 

" But whatever may have been the want of success of the first ag- 
ricultural establishments, they have notwithstanding contributed no less 
to the improvement of agriculture, and to the movement, which, at 
the present day, has advanced it in its progress. Their reverses ought 
not to make us forget their services ; for these reverses are the source 
from whence profitable lessons may be derived. From having seen 
their struggles with difficulties, the administration (of government) 
have been led to see in what their organization was defective, and to 
take advantage of their trials." 

" It is one of these advantages to the farm schools and the institutes, 
that they have thus learnt the dangers and abuses to which such institu- 
tions are liable." 

" From hence, solicitude has been awakened as to the danger of 

5 



34 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

destroying, in the pupils of the farm schools, the austere and simple 
habits of life formed at home, and as to the precautions necessary to 
meet this danger, and to restrain within wise limits their course of in- 
struction." 

" From hence, too, we have learat the difficulty of collecting in some 
localities a sufficient number of pupils for farm schools," 

" From hence, also, light has been thrown upon the institutes, 
(higher schools of agriculture.) We have seen from the first that the 
farms of those first establishments did not belong to the state ; tl>p,t we 
were obliged to take for a director the owner of the farm, not always 
the best man. Hence, in some cases, the teaching was not sufficiently 
experimental, because the interest of the proprietor did not allow of the 
expense necessary for successful studies and experiments in agricul- 
ture. Still further, the state, after having been at much expense, 
were liable to be disappointed by the sickness or reverses of fortune of 
the proprietor." 

" Enlightened by all this experience, the administration were able 
fco ofibr such a project for a law concerning agricultural instruction, as 
would obviate the embarrassments and dangers which had injured or 

: ruined ,some schools, ifec." 

The law above referred to, which forms the basis of the present 

V organization for agricultural instruction in France, after having been 
proposed by the minister, was thoroughly discussed by the National 
Assembly, ,aad finally adopted on the 3d of October, 1848. A trans- 
Jation of it will be the best means of understanding the character of 
the agricultural schools in France, for all the old schools were remod- 
eled to conform to this new decree. 

Laiv voted by the National Assemlly of France^ Oct, 3<?, 1848 : The 

;V0te stood 579 in favor, and 100 against the law : — 

Preliminary Arrangements. 

Article 1. Professional instruction in agriculture constitutes three 
.degrees. 

In the first degree are embraced the Farm Schools, for giving ele- 
mentary practical instruction. 

The second degree embraces, the Regional Schools,* {les ecoles 
regionales) where the instruction is both theoretical and practical. 

The third degree embraces a National Agronomic Institute, which 
I is a higher normal school of agriculture. 

* I have ihought it leUer to ano^licise the French word here, than lo translate it. District 
school would be quite proper, but in Massachusetts it designates the primary schools in a 
iitown, and would be so understood if applied here. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 35 

Article 2. The professional instruction in agriculture is at the ex- 
pense of the state in its different degrees. 

Section 1. Of the Farm Schools. 

Article 3. The farm school is a rural enterprise, conducted with 
ability and profit, in which apprentices are chosen among the laborers, 
and admitted without charge, execute all the labor, receiving at the 
same time, as a remuneration for their labor, an agricultural instruction 
essentially practical. 

Article 4. In each of the departments of the republic, there shall 
be established at first a farm school. This organization shall be suc- 
cessively extended to each arrondisement, (subdivision of a depart- 
ment.) 

Article 5. The salaries and wages of the instructors {personnel 
enseignant,) are paid by the state. The state also determines the price 
of the board, which, joined to the labor of the pupils, is allowed to 
the director to indemnify him for the cost of food and other expenses, 
occasioned by the admission of the apprentices. 

Article 6. Each year the treasury distributes prizes to the farm^ 
schools. They are divided every year to all the children according to 
their merit, under the name of pecule, (stock of money,) but they are 
not paid over till the termination of the apprenticeship. 

Section 2. Of the Regional Schools, {les ecoles regionales). 

Article 7. France shall be divided into agricultural districts, [re- 
gions culturales.) 

In each district there shall be a regional school. 

The Regional School of Agriculture is an enterprise for making ex- 
periments, and, at the same time, a model for the region to which it 
appertains. 

Article 8. The pupils received into the regional schools are either 
those having scholarships, or those who pay for their board. 

Article 9. The scholarships established in the regional schools are 
given, after consultation, one-half to the pupils of the farm schools of 
each agricultural district, and the other half to those persons who pre- 
sent themselves as competitors. 

Article 10. The better pupils of the regional schools, who do not 
enter immediately into the national agronomic institute, may be placed at 
the expense of the state as licentiates, near the farm schools, and other 
agricultural establishments, public and private- 

The duration of this residence is two years. 

The licentiate assists the director in his labors, becomes acquainted' 



36 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

with the practical part of the administration, and completes his agricul- 
tural education as chef d'' exploitation, (chief of the farm enterprise.) 

Article 11. The regional schools are also experimental farms. 

The experiments and their results shall receive the greatest pub- 
licity. 

Section 3. Of the National Agronomic Institute. 

Article 12. The National Agronomic Institute shall be established 
on the national estate at Versailles. 

Article 13. The course of instruction of the national agronomic 
institute, shall be gratuitous and public. 

Nevertheless, the state sustains there forty scholars. 

Each year ten scholarships are given, upon consultation, to graduates 
of the regional schools ; ten others are reserved for all the competitors 
who present themselves. 

Article 14. Each year the three first scholars of the institute re- 
ceive a supplementary mission of studies. 

This 77iission extends to three years ; it is open for Frenchmen and 
for foreigners. 

Article 15. The national agronomic school takes also the experi- 
mental character bestowed upon the regional schools. 

The experiments shall be made public, as directed in article 11. 

Section 4. General Arrangements. 

Article 16. The functions of a professor in the regional schools, and 
the national agronomic institute, shall be given in council. 

Article 17. The schools and the national institute shall be man- 
aged solely on account of the state. 

Article 18. (Relates to local matters and need not be given.) 

Article 19. Each year an account shall be rendered to the national 
assembly of the manner in which this law is executed. 

Article 20. This law shall be executed by the statutes of the public 
administration and by the decrees of the minister of agriculture. 

Six months after the adoption of this law, the national assembly, after 
a good deal of discussion, voted the sum of 2,500,000 francs ($460,- 
000,) to carry its articles into execution for the year 1849. This was 
the sum recommended by the minister in his budget. 

It remains that I should give a more detailed account of the three 
classes of agricultural schools which have thus been established in 
France, and to describe at least one example of each class. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. • 37 



Farm Schools. 

I have already defined these schools to be a rural enterprise, con- 
ducted with ability and profit, and in which the pupils perform all the 
labor, receiving at the same time, as a remuneration, instruction in ag- 
riculture, essentially practical. 

They are established for two objects : first, to furnish good examples 
of tillage to the farmers of the district. Secondly, to form agricul- 
turists capable of cultivating intelligently, either upon their own prop- 
erty, or that of others, as farmers, leaseholders, or managers, or to 
become good rural assistants, servants upon the farm, leaders of man- 
ual labor, or overseers of cattle and horses. 

It is the intention of government to establish at least one of these 
schools in each of the eighty-six departments of France ; but as yet 
only seventy have been put into operation. They are placed as near 
as may be to the centre of the department, and in a spot where the 
soil, situation, &c., are similar to the general condition of the region. 
They have annexed to them, nurseries, and collections of fruit trees, and 
gardens. The buildings for the accommodation of the school are con- 
structed in a plain and substantial manner, and so as to conform as much 
as possible to the general character of buildings in the district. The 
director is chosen of preference from among the farmers or proprietors 
of the district, whose farms are conducted in the best manner. 

The instruction is, as far as may be, practical, and given even in 
the field, where the pupils labor, in the stables, and the sheep-folds. 

The officers and head men of the establishment, with their salaries, 
are the following : 

A director, having the general oversight. Salary 2,400 francs, 
($442.) 

A chef de pratique, chief of the practical operations of all sorts on 
the farm, 1000 francs, ($184.) 

An overseer of accounts, who teaches the mode of keeping farm 
accounts, considered in Europe as a most important part of agricultural 
education. Salary, 1000 francs, ($184.) 

A 7iursery gardener : salary, 1000 francs. 

A veterinary surgeon : salary, 500f, ($92.) 

Some other leaders, according to the locality, &c., such as shepherds, 
cheesemongers, irrigators, silk growers, &c. 

The school is open to young men, particularly those from country 
families, whose age is at least sixteen, who have received an education 
in the primary school, and who have a good constitution. The num- 



38 * AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

ber admitted varies with the extent of the country. If less than 
twenty-four apply, it is thought not best to continue the school. The 
actual number attending the schools varies from twenty-four to thirty- 
two. 

The pupils all labor as workmen receiving wages. Three in each 
school are confined to the gardens and nurseries, so as to become gar- 
deners. The number should be great enough to carry on all the op- 
erations of the farm, which is considered an essential feature of this 
sort of school. Board and instruction they receive gratuitously in 
return. 

The course extends through three years. The first year, they at- 
tend to simple manual labor ; the second year, they have charge of 
the animals ; the third year, they have the oversight of various ope- 
rations. 

Provision is made for religious instruction, adapted, as in Ireland, to 
the peculiar religious condition of the country. 

The hours appropriated to study are devoted, L To the arrangement 
of the notes the pupils have taken during the instruction from the dif- 
ferent leaders ; 2. to reading a manual, or book, of elementary agricul- 
ture ; 3. to lessons given by the overseer of accounts, on the elements 
of arithmetic, book-keeping, surveying, &c. The time devoted to 
study is less in summer than in winter. 

Besides paying the board of the pupils, the government allows to 
each one, as an encouragement, the sum of $14 yearly. One part of 
this is intended to cover the expense of the maintenance of the ward- 
robe (?) [du trosseau.] The other part forms a fund, to be distributed 
among the pupils each year, in proportion to their zeal and good con- 
duct. These prizes are awarded, but not paid over, till the end of three 
years. He who quits the school, or is dismissed before that time, loses 
these prizes. 

Another prize of 400 francs is awarded to the pupil most deserving, 
at the end of the three years' course. 

The director works the farm at his own risk. He is obliged so to 
conduct it as to afford the best means of instruction to the pupils, to 
submit his books and accounts at any time to the examination of gov- 
ernment, to send annually to the minister a full account of the 
state of the school, and to publish a full account each year of his op- 
erations, his success, or his failure. Moreover, if the farm be not con- 
ducted so as to afford a net produce comparatively equal to that furnished 
by other farms in the same region, the patronage of the government is 
withdrawn. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 39 

Instead of going into the details, as I might do, of the state of each 
of these schools, I have thrown together, in the table attached to this 
report, all the facts respecting them within my knowledge, which I 
judge important to the purpose of the committee. 

Regional Schools. 

I have already given a history of several of these schools of the 
second grade, but in their present organization they deserve a fuller 
description. 

They have three objects in view : 

1. To form enlightened agriculturists, by teaching them the princi- 
ples of agriculture. 

2. To offer an example, or model, of practical agriculture of a high 
order, and advancing. 

3. To make experiments for improving the cultivation of the soil. 
The instruction in these schools is of a much higher order than in 

the farm schools, and is adapted not to prepare laborers on the farm, so 
much as men to direct agricultural affairs. The farm connected with the 
school is expected to present an enlightened system of culture, and to 
adapt that culture to the wants and peculiarities of the district in which it 
is situated. The director, also, is no longer a farmer, or proprietor, 
laboring at his own risk, but an agent employed by the government, 
and accountable to them, and subject to their direction. 

The instruction is both theoretical and practical, embracing the fol- 
lowing six professorships : 

One professor of rural economy and legislation. 

One of agriculture. 

One of zootechny, or the economy of animals. 

One of sylviculture, (cultivation of forest trees,) and of botany. 

One of chemistry, physics and geology, applied to agriculture. 

One of rural engineering, (irrigations, rural constructions, surveying, 
&c.) 

It may be well to add a brief explanation of the nature of the above 
professorships. 

The course on rural economy and legislation describes the relation 
between rural productions and the public revenue, as well as the differ- 
ent branches of industry. It shows what circumstances are favorable 
or unfavorable to such or such a system of cultivation, or to such or 
such a speculation in animals, or vegetables, according to the situation of 
the lands, the facility of communication, and demand for the products 
by the people of the surrounding country. The course embraces also 
rural legislation. 



40 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

The course on agriculture embraces the study of the soil, of ma- 
nures, of instruments of tillage, of different cultivated plants, an esti- 
mate of the different modes of culture, and the theory of the distribu 
tion (rotation ?) of crops. 

Zootechny treats of the production and amelioration of animals. 
The professor gives at first some ideas of anatomy and physiology 
generally, and then treats, in a practical way, of the raising of do- 
mestic animals, of their support, of their amelioration, of their hygiene, 
and their production. 

The professor of sylviculture and botany gives first, a summary 
sketch of vegetable physiology and botany applied to agriculture. He 
teaches the subject of sylviculture (cultivation of vv^oods,) and of forest 
economy, u'ith special reference to the training, working, and preser- 
vation of the forests of individuals and the communes. 

The professor of chemistry, physics, geology, &c., has a wide field, 
as his titles show. His chief object is to take those views of the sci- 
ences named which bear directly upon agriculture. 

The professorship of rural engineering embraces geometry, me- 
chanics, and linear drawing, as applied to rural architecture, to the 
construction of agricultural instruments, and particularly to irrigations. 

To second the lessons of the professors, an equal number of tutors 
are appointed. Their duties are to explain in private, to the pupils, 
whatever is obscure or difficult in the oral instruction. They also see 
that notes are taken of the lectures, &c. 

Each school has its lib/ary, its philosophical and chemical cabinet, 
adapted especially to agriculture, its agronomic museum of geology, 
zoology, botany, and agricultural technology. 

The pupils have an opportunity of witnessing on the farms connect- 
ed with these schools, all the important agricultural operations, also 
specimens of the best breeds of animals, and the mode of taking care 
of them, and using them ; and they engage personally in all the im- 
portant operations connected with husbandry, so as to know how to 
conduct them in after life. 

The number of scholars admitted is fixed by the government, and 
varies at the different schools. The price of board is 750 francs, 
($138.) 

The state furnishes several scholarships to each school. Half of 
them is given to the most deserving of the pupils from the farm 
schools, placed at the regional schools. The other half is divided 
among the scholars who are the most distinguished, after six months' 
trial, for their labor and conduct. Scholarships from the national ag- 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 4^1^ 

ronomic institute, are also given to those most successful in study and 
conduct. 

Towards the close of the third year, examinations are held, and to 
those who sustain them, diplomas are given, and the way is laid open 
for their admittance to the national institute. 

To these schools a farm is always attached, for the purposes already 
indicated. Also, a manufactory of agricultural instruments, a viag- 
nanery, (establishment for silk,) a feculary,* (place for preparing 
liquid manures,) distillery, oil mill, dairy, sawmill, &c. 

The head men on the farm are essentially the same as those already 
described as connected with the farm schools. 

Regional School at Grignon. 

As I visited this school, a few words more concerning it may be 
proper. It lies about twenty-five miles southwest of Paris, and twelve 
from Versailles, and may be reached by taking a railway to the latter 
place, and a carriage from thence. The country passed over is very 
fine, in an agricultural point of view, although I should not judge the 
farm surrounding the school to be unusually well located. I was ac- 
companied in my visit by Mr. Morey, of Massachusetts, who kindly 
acted as my interpreter. We found M. Bella, the polite and intelligent 
director, ready to answer all our inquiries, and to show us the estab- 
lishment. 

I have already stated that this school, commenced in 1827, had lately 
been reorganized, according to the law of the national assembly of 
October, 1848 ; yet its plan of instruction and general character remain 
essentially the same. It is intended to educate young men, of good 
families, to become directors and stewards of estates, or to manage 
judiciously their own estates, and not to learn men to become themselves 
laborers. The pupils are required, however, to take part in all the 
operations of the farm, but not as a daily and irksome task. They 
take turns in attending to the different operations ; one week in labor- 
ing abroad, the next in taking care of the cattle, &c., and during the 
third year they are made sub-overseers of different processes. The 
number of professors at present is six, and of course an equal number 
of tutors, and other head men, for practical operations. About seven 
of the instructors reside on the ground ; the rest are gentlemen from 
abroad, some I believe, from Paris, who give courses of lectures. All 
the expenses of instruction are paid by the government, who, in fact, 
have a full control of the school, and of the farm, consisting of about 

■" These are merely anglicised words from Magnaiturie Eind Feaderie, 



42 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

1,200 acres. I noticed a few tolerably good collections in natural 
history, — a manikin, and some skeletons of animals, — but the collec- 
tions are not large. That in geology is the best ; the surrounding 
country, being situated in what is called the Paris basin, furnishes 
many interesting specimens. But some of the professors bring speci- 
mens along with them to illustrate their lectures. 

As we passed over the farm, and through the buildings, in the house, 
and the barns, I observed that the pupils, — most of them at least twen- 
ty years of age, and some much more, — wore a neat frock, as did 
also the director. Yet wherever they met him, whether in the field, or 
the house, or the stables, there was great care on both sides to recog- 
nize one another by lifting the hat. The custom, indeed, seemed 
more scrupulously observed among these farmers^ than it is in the 
colleges and academies of our country. And it seemed to me to 
exert a fine influence, and to have a strong tendency to preserve gentle- 
manly manners, in circumstances where men are liable to become 
clownish. 

As we passed through the stables and noticed the fine cows, oxen, 
horses, and hogs, I observed that the keepers addressed M. Bella in 
German, and I believe some other language than the French, as it is 
the custom to bring men from other countries, when they introduce 
samples of animals from those countries, that they may be better taken 
care of. 

In going through a stable containing a number of fine cattle, I ob- 
served one young man with water and a broom, cleaning the legs of 
an ox which had lain down in his leavings. The director whispered to 
us that that young man was the son of a wealthy banker. Indeed, the 
pupils all appeared as if they had not been accustomed to manual 
labor. Formerly, pupils were admitted from the laboring classes to 
attend the lectures, without residing in the institution, but they are now 
excluded. They now pay 750 francs, or $138, for board, and receive 
nothing for their labor. 

This school was commenced by a society of gentlemen, to whom 
the buildings and farm were ceded for forty years, by Charles X. 
Until it passed lately into the hands of the government, it received 
from the government $1,100 annually. Now it is mainly sustained by 
the government, and the society have mostly relinquished the direction 
of its affairs. 

Upon the whole, though I regretted that the school is closed against 
the poorer classes, I was much pleased with its appearance, and with 
that of the farm. It cannot but exert a great influence upon the agri- 
culture of the country. Already it haa sent out nearly six hundred 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 43 

pupils, and the present number is about eighty. For some time it 
suffered from the prejudices of the community against agricultural 
schools, and the patronage was limited. But of late the current of 
public opinion has changed, so that now more pupils are offered than 
are wanted, and the good effects of such an education are very mani- 
fest in the improved and improving condition of agriculture in the 
country. Such effects cannot, indeed, be reduced to numbers, as 
other causes conspire to produce them. But M. Bella informed me, 
that they were most manifest to one who had watched the progress of 
events. Indeed, what reasonable man can doubt, that to send forth six 
hundred young men, educated theoretically and practically in the true 
principles and practice of husbandry, must exert a powerful influence on 
the community ? 

Mr. Colman, in his Report on European Agriculture, has given a full 
and detailed account of the arrangement and course of study, &c., at 
Grignon, which, for the most part, corresponds to the system now 
followed there. As his work is widely circulated, I shall not copy 
those details, but instead thereof, I shall give as a specimen of the 
instruction communicated at these schools, an abstract of the lectures 
delivered by some of the professors at Grand Jouan. From the sam- 
ples given, the committee can judge of the manner in which all the 
departments of lecturing are conducted. 

The subjects of study and lectures at this school are the follow- 
ing :— 

Mathematical Sciences : — Arithmetic, Algebra, Geomety, Mechanics, 
Surveying, Levelling, Stereometry, (measuring solid bodies,) Linear 
Drawing. 

Physical and Natural Sciences : — Physics, Meteorology, Mineral 
Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Botany. 

Technological Sciences : — Organic Chemistry, or Agricultural Tech- 
nology, Agriculture, Arboriculture, Sylviculture, Veterinary Art, Agri- 
cultural Zoology, Equitation. 

Noological Sciences :* — Rural Architecture, Forest Economy, Ru- 
ral or Farm Accounts, Rural Economy, Rural Law. 

* The application of the sciences to agriculture has introduced in the continental languages 
a new set of terms, to which we have sometimes none exactly parallel, and 1 have in some 
cases, as in that of Noologiques, merely anglicised the word, whose meaning the classical 
reader will at once understand. In this case. Noological is related to P sijcJwlogicai , but ob- 
viously different. In a few cases where I could not find the word in the lexicons, or found it 
difficult to give the exact meaning, I have transferred the word without translation, and 
italicised it. 



44 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

Abstract of the course of Lectures on General Agriculture. 

Agricultural Formation, (Terrain,) — \. Soil: — Constituent Ele- 
ments, Classification of the Formations : Argillaceous, Siliceous, and 
peaty soils : Physical properties : Causes which modify these proper- 
ties : Influence of soil on vegetation. 

2. Sub Soil : — Sub soil active : sub soil inert : Influence of sub soil 
on the soil and on the life of plants. 

Agricultural Geography : — Astronomic situation of France : Moun- 
tains : Valleys, Plains, Rivers. 

Agricultural Physics : — Atmospheric Air : Caloric : Light : Dark- 
ness. 

Agricultural Meteorology : — Winds : Fogs : Dew : Rain : White 
Frost: Frost with Ice : Snow: Hail. 

Climatology : — Influence of Climate : Climate of France : Regions. 

Fertilization : — Considerations preliminary : Fecundity and Fer- 
tility. 

1. Improvement: — Clay: Rocks : Sand : Slates : Lava : Plombage : 

Irrigations : Ditching : Ploughing : Movement of the sub soil : Col- 
matage. 

2. Stimulants : — Stimulants of Mineral Origin : Lime : Marl : Cal- 
careous earth : Broken shells : Sea sand : the Whiting : Shell fish : 
Plaster : Fire Ashes : Sulphate of Iron : Salts of Potash : of Soda : 
of Ammonia. 

Stimulants of Vegetable Origin : — Soot : Ashes : Leached Ashes. 

3. Manures : — Animal Manures : Excrements : Urine : Pigeons' 
Dung : Guano : Excrement of Animals : Muscular Flesh : Blood : 
Fish : Fat : Oil : Woollen cloth : Horn : Horse hair : Human hair : 
Feathers. 

Vegeto-Animal Manures : — Litter : Horse dung : of Sheep : of 
horned Cattle : of Swine : of Rabbits. 

Animal Manures Mineralized : — Animal charcoal : Bone. 

Vegetable Manures: — Green crops ploughed in. Manure and Aquat- 
ic plants : Turf : poor Vegetables : Oil Cake : Tan : Mesh : Pulpy 
matters : Leaves : Stubble. 

Liquid Manures : — Urine of the Domestic Animals : Flemish Ma- 
nures : Urine Water from Fecularies, (manufactories of feculant 
matters ?) 

Compound Manures : — Manure of Jauffret and Lane : Compost : 
Slime of Ponds : River Mud : Marine Mud. 

Breaking up the Soil : — 1 . Work Animals : Cattle : Horses : Cows : 
Mules : Asses : Race : Age : Mode of tackling : Length of working : 
Treatment : Necessary proportion. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 45 

2. Instruments : — Plough with or without fore wheels : Harrow : 
Scarificators : Rollers : Instruments for second dressing : Weeders : 
Extirpators : Necessary proportion. 

3. Tillage : — Theory and Practice : Soil : Temperature : Flat Til- 
lage : Flat Tillage in rows : Flat Tillage in ridges : (?) Tillage by 
digging and by grubbing. 

4. Methods of moving the earth : — Harrowing : Rolling : Second 
Ploughing. Buttages. 

5. Clearing Land : — Heaths : Woods : Peaty lands : Clearing by 
the hand : by the Plough : Hoeing: Destination of the ground. 

Draining : — Arable Land : Morasses : Ponds : Nature and destina- 
tion of the soil. 

Irrigation : — Theory and Practice : by Infiltration : Renewal of the 
Water : (?) Planches Bombees. 

Quantity of water by the acre, and according to the nature of the 
soil. Value of the bottoms irrigated and not irrigated. Mode of 
working those almost irrigated. Fertility and value of the products. 

Fences : — Walls : Ditches : Hedges, living or dead. 

Sowing : — Theory and practice : Sowing in lines : at random : se- 
lection, renewal, cleansing, and preparation of the seeds : Burying 
them by the harrow : by the plough. 

Method of Treatment : — Weeding : Cleaning of thistles : stripping 
off the leaves : Effuillage : Bringing into the light. 

Harvesting. General Considerations, 

1. Harvesting of Fodder : — Instruments and Machines: Mowing: 
Hay making : Grindstones. 

2. Harvesting of Grain : — Instruments and Machines : Mowing : 
Reaping : Threshing : Liage. 

3. Harvesting of Roots : — Pulling up by the hand : by the plough : 
Uncovering : Cleaning. 

Selection of the methods of preparing the Soils : — According to atmos- 
pheric circumstances : Nature of the Soil : its condition : its destination. 

Distribution of Labor by Rotation: (?) — Normal conditions: Ex- 
ceptional conditions. 

Rural Architecture. 

Materials : — Siliceous, calcareous and argillaceous rocks : Fat, 
meagre, and hydraulic Lime : Sands: Mortar: Cements: Puzzolana : 
Plaster : Wood : Iron : Paving Brick : Roofing Slate : Tiles : Lead : 
Zinc : Leather : Ropes. 

Works : — Foundations : Terracing : Properties of Earths. 



46 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

Masonry : — Foundation Walls : High Walls : for support : for en- 
closure : Plastering : Pise. 

Carpentry : — Assemblages : Comhles : Pans de hois : Partitions : 
Staircases. 

Joiners'' Work: — Floors: Gates: Windows: Shutters. 

Iron Work : — Large Iron : Ironing the Buildings. 

Roofing : — Tiles : Slate : Thatch : Zinc : Bitumen. 

Painting and Glazing : — Oil Painting : Distemper Paintings : Ba- 
didgeon, (coloring) Window glass. 

Paving and Bricking. 

Estimate of the Works : — Masonry : Carpentry. 

Specification : — Form of the works. 

Edifices : — Stable : Cow house : Sheep fold : Hog pen : Hen house : 
Pigeon house : Silk worm nursery. 

Animal products : — Dairy : Cheese house. 

VegetaMe products : — Barns : Granaries : Wine cellars : Cellars : 
Corn pits : Ovens. 

Agricultural Manufactures : — Feculary : Distillery : Sugar manufac- 
tory. 

Reservoirs : — Watering places : Wash house : Wells : Cisterns : 
Ditches for urine : Ponds. 

Dwelling house : — Form and Proportion. 

Irrigations : — Dams : Taking out the Water : Sluices : Canals : 
Weirs : Slopes. 

Drainage : — Damming up : Trenching : Cesspool : Machines for 
drainage. 

Routs : — Soil : Slope : Outline : Levelling : Materials : Support : 
Bridges: Estimate of Excavation and Embankment. 

Group of Edifices composing a Farming Establishment : — Relation 
to the fertility of the soil and the culture and extent of the farm. 

National Agronomic Institute. 

The general character of this institution has already been given, in 
the law of the 3d of October, 1848. By that law, it is located at Ver- 
sailles. Three farms, a garden, and a forest, embracing about 3,452 
acres, and a portion of the public buildings, have been devoted to it. 
This is one of the most signal triumphs^ of republicanism in France, 
that so large a portion of that magnificent seat of royalty, should be 
devoted to an agricultural institution. It is not yet, indeed, got into full 
operation, but the administration is in full possession of the buildings 
in which it is to be placed. A collection of the skeletons of naam- 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 47 

miferous animals, and of parasitic insects, with colored figures, a series 
of photographic plates of animals for the farm, &c., are already on 
the ground, and wait only for the fitting up of the halls for their re- 
ception, as does also a library. Some of the professors and other 
officers have been appointed, and the school will soon be in operation ; 
perhaps it is before this time. 

I cannot perceive that this Institute differs much in its organization 
from that of the regional schools, except that it is on a more extended 
scale, and the course of study more elevated. It presents itself in a 
three fold aspect : 

First, as having a Faculty of the agronomic sciences. 

Secondly, as a superior normal school for agiiculture. 

Thirdly, as a higher institute for agricultural education, open to the 
administrators and proprietors who have turned their attention to ag- 
riculture. 

To meet the wants of this latter class especially, a large farm is 
connected with the school. Here will be performed, at the expense of 
the state, all the experiments necessaiy to the progress of agronomic 
science, and to verify practically all the innovations and improvements 
proposed by others, before they are recommended to the public. This 
is an object of great importance, and should enter into any plan for a 
school in the United States. 

The theoretical and practical parts of this institute are really distinct, 
but they are placed under the general government of one director. 

The professorships are nine, as follows : 

One chair of rural economy and legislation. 

One of agriculture. 

One of zootechny, or the economy of animals. 

One of sylviculture. 

One of rural engineering, embracing levelling, irrigation, construc- 
tion of roads, rural architecture, and mechanics applied to agricultural 
instruments. 

The above professorships belong to practical agriculture. The others 
belong to the theory of the subject. 

One of terrestrial physics and meteorology. 

One of chemistry applied to agriculture. 

One of botany, and vegetable physiology. 

One of applied zoology. 

Here, as in the lower schools, a number of tutors is appointed equal 
to the number of professors. 

In addition to the director, professors, and tutors, the following offi- 
cers will be appointed : 



48 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

A prefect of studies. 

A curator of the collections. 

A librarian. 

An overseer of studies. 

To these will be added a corps of head men to oversee and manage 
the affairs of the farm. These will in part be called from the farm 
schools. For example, the institute will need twenty-one herdsmen, 
twenty-one grooms, twenty-one shepherds, and fifteen gardeners. 

The French minister adds, " The end of the institute at Versailles is 
not merely to afford agricultural instruction, but to open the way for 
studious men, who wish to direct their labors towards the application of 
science to rural industry. This is the first attempt of the kind that has 
been made. Industry has enriched the learned men who have explored 
the domain of the physical sciences and of chemistry for this object. 
But if agriculture has given reputation to any, it has not procured for 
any one a position which would enable him to make that the centre of 
his studies. Hence scientific teaching everywhere has become 
industrial, (?) because there only can it be repaid for its services. 
The institute at Versailles is intended to change this state of things by 
offering as a prize of laudable ambition, to those who direct their re- 
searches to agriculture, a certain number of chairs, before which an 
immense field opens." 

Much more might be added respecting this school, but I have prob- 
ably given the most important facts. 

SWITZERLAND. 

I am not aware that any agricultural schools exist at this moment in 
Switzerland, but one has been in operation there which has excited a 
good deal of interest. 

Tlie Hoficyl School. 

This institution, established by M. Fellenberg in 1799, has been often 
described, and has excited deep interest in Europe and America. But 
it has some time since ceased its operations, at least in almost all de- 
partments. I visited the place, however, (nine miles from Berne, in a 
beautiful country, and over a beautiful road,) not to see the agricultural 
school, but to learn why it had been discontinued ; a point, I thought, 
of much importance to those who are deliberating whether to establish 
one. I found a fine farm and extensive buildings, large enough for a 
university ; and I could easily see how it was, that after the death of 
Fellenberg, the father, in 1844, his two sons found their task so severe 
that they could not sustain it. The intelligent gentleman who showed 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 49 

me over the establishment, (connected, I believe, with the family of 
Fellenberg, but his name I have forgotten,) told me that the school 
was given up, not for want of patronage, for that was abundant, but 
because the sons of Fellenberg lost their health, through too severe 
labor. From filial piety they even held on longer than prudence al- 
lowed. The fact is, the establishment in all its parts was little short 
of a university, with agriculture as its basis. It comprehended the fol- 
lowing departments : 

1. A farm, intended as a model. 

2. An experimental farm. 

3. A manufactory of agricultural instruments. 

4. A workshop, employed in the impro%'ement of agricultural 
mechanism. 

5. A school of industry for the poor. 

6. A seminary for children of the higher class. 

7. An academy of theoretical and practical agriculture. 

8. A school for the instruction of masters. 

It was an attempt to bring together the sons of princes and nobles^ 
along with those of the peasantry and orphans. The school of the 
former was very expensive, and intended to furnish the means of sus- 
taining the latter almost gratuitously. To the former were attached 
not less than thirty professors, after Fellenberg, at the suggestion of the 
Emperor of Russia, had so enlarged it as to accommodate one hundred 
pupils ; and to these were added masters in music, drawing, and all 
other branches of a refined and liberal education. How could such a 
vast system be sustained by one man, or even two, upon a farm in the 
interior of Switzerland ? especially when it kept up the distinctions 
between the rich and the poor so fully, as to excite the warm approba- 
tion of the autocrat of all the Russias. I doubt not that when Fel- 
lenberg yielded his own judgment to such an adviser, and greatly 
enlarged the aristocratic branch of his school, he struck a death blow 
to its permanence. He was doubtless actuated by benevolent motives,, 
and his school has done good, by exciting public attention to the 
system which he endeavored in vain practically to realize. But he 
attempted to reconcile and hold together by a principle of love, what 
can be sustained only by the bayonet, viz., hereditary distinctions of 
caste and enlightened poverty. Education and religion do indeed 
create distinctions among men, but ihoy are founded upon merit and 
virtue, not upon the accidental and unimportant circumstances of birth 
and pedigree. The former are essential to the existence of society^ 
but the latter will be less and less regarded, as education and true re- 
ligion take the place of soldiers and church establishments. 
7 



50 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

The farm at Hofwyl appears to be a good one, and there are some 
students there still, who receive some instruction, and labor on the 
land ; there is also a small orphan school. The collections in natural 
history are not large ; they have numerous agricultural instruments, 
and a manufactory of the same, though on a small scale at present. 

After seeing the remains of this establishment, I rather wondered 
that it had not stopped sooner. While it continued, I was told that 
the farmers of the surrounding country took much interest in it. Its 
failure does not seem to me to furnish a ground of discouragement to 
others who would establish agricultural schools, especially, in a country 
where the sons of the rich do not think themselves degraded by forming 
a part of the same school with those of the poor who have equal talents ; 
and of this character to a great extent are all the schools of our country. 

ITALY. 

The precise state of agricultural education in Italy it is difficult to 
ascertain, since political changes affect it. But in 1842, a school of 
the superior class was established in connection with the university of 
Pisa, called an agronomic and pastoral institution ; the term pastoral., 
embracing the entire . management of animals. It is placed at the 
gates of the city, where there is a garden, a veterinary establishment, 
and a shop for the construction of agricultural implements. One pro- 
fessor is attached exclusively to the institute ; the others belong to the 
university, and lecture in the institute. The first year the instruction 
embraces geometry, algebra, general physics, and botany ; the second 
year, descriptive geometry, surveying, chemistry, and agrononny ; the 
third year, geology, applied physics, rural architecture, agronomy, and 
the care of animals, (la pastorale.) Some of the lectures are given at 
the university, and some at the institute. Students aid in the practical 
labors of the establishment a certain number of hours during the 
second and third years. They are examined each year upon the 
ground gone over, and' if accepted, receive, at the end of the third 
year, a license for the agricultural sciences. Students are admitted, 
also, for a term of three months, or more, who do not finish the regular 
course. 

Another school of inferior grade did exist at Meleto, founded in 
1834, but I have no information concerning it. 

BELGIUM. 

It is only during the past year that the government of Belgium have 
established agricultural schools. Nine of these are now in operation, 
of which three are intermediary, two inferior, one special, and three 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 51 

are connected with the communal colleges, — a sort of gymnasium. 
The course of instruction occupies three years, and in the intermediary 
schools embraces geometry, surveying, levelling, drawing, mechanics, 
physics, mineralogy, geology, botany, chemistry, agricultural tech- 
nology, horticulture, the economy of forests, agricultural zoology, the 
veterinary art, hygiene, rural law, rural architecture, and agriculture. 
In the inferior schools it embraces elementary mathematics, surveying, 
levelling, drawing of plans, elements of the phyical and natural sciences, 
and agricultural book keeping. 

A committee, appointed by the government of the state, visits the 
schools at least once every three months. The students are of two 
classes ; those paying board, and those supported by the state. 

The officers of these schools, {le personnel,) are a director, from 
two to five professors, an instructor in gardening, an overseer of the 
practical .operations, and as many workmen as are necessary. 
Four of the schools are independent ; the rest are connected with other 
institutions ; three with communal colleges, and two with industrial 
schools. The number of scholarships and the amount of tuition, may 
be seen on the annexed schedule, with a few other facts. 

PRUSSIA. 

The agricultural schools of Prussia present us with all the varieties 
that have been enumerated, viz.: the superior, intermediary, inferior, 
special, and connected with the universities. 

The superior schools, called Royal Institutes or Academies of Agricul- 
ture, are three in number, at Moeglin, Eldena, and Poppelsdorf. 

That at Moeglen was established forty-four years ago, upon a farm 
of 2,480 acres. It admits only twenty pupils, to board with the di- 
rector, at $240 per annum, yet it has sent out 511, who have finished 
a four years' course. Besides these, the school admits pupils tempo- 
rarily at $1 per week. 

The instruction embraces agriculture, rural economy, the raising of 
cattle, the mathematical, physical, chemical, and natural sciences, 
applied to agriculture, rural industry, and the veterinary art. It also 
gives more special instruction in farm accounts, in the raising of ani- 
mals with fine wool, the irrigation of meadows, and the cultivation of 
potatoes on a large scale. 

The institution at Eldena in Pomerania, is situated on an estate be- 
longing to the university of Greisswalde, which is near. It has been in 
operation about twenty years ; and of its eighty pupils, about seventy 
are intending to devote themselves to agriculture, and ten to the higher 
departments of the government, where they will need a knowledge of 



52 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

agriculture. The course is two years, and the cost of instruction, not 
including board, is about $90. The age of those admitted must be at 
least seventeen years, and they must produce testimonials of good con- 
duct, and of having pursued classical studies. 

The nine professors at Eldena give ten courses of lectures on the 
following subjects : — 1. Political Economy : — Finances : Rural Po- 
lice : Constitutional Law in Prussia : Governmental organization : Po- 
litico-economic discussions. 2. History and Statistics of Agriculture : 
— Agriculture in general : Agriculture special : Cultivation of mead- 
ows : Zootechny in general : Raising of sheep : Raising of horned 
animals : Rural economy : Systems of culture : Valuation of rural 
estates : Agricultural book-keeping, theoretic and practical. 3. Sylvi- 
culture in general, (culture of groves.) 4. Horticulture : — Culture of 
garden vegetables : Culture of fruit trees : Arboriculture, (culture of 
trees and shrubs for timber, &c.) 5. Raising of Horses :— Anatomy 
and physiology of domestic animals : Veterinary medicine : Hygiene. 
6. Chemistry : — Experimental and Agricultural, organic and inorganic 
chemistry, (exercises in the laboratory,) Physics and Meteorology : 
Technology with practical demonstration in the distillery : Brewery : 
Tile kiln, and dairy : Excursion to the saline of Greisswalde : to the 
beet sugar manufactory of Stralsund : Manufactory of instruments and 
mills. 7. Anatomy,, Physiology, and Geology of Plants : — Botany, gen- 
eral and applied to agriculture : Horticulture and sylviculture : Zoolo- 
gy, general and applied to agriculture : Excursions. 8. Arithmetic 
and Mathematics : — Surveying : Levelling : General and applied me- 
chanics. 9. Drawing: — Rural architecture : Practical valuation of 
constructions. 10. Rural Law. 

The Superior Institute at Regenwalde, in Pomerania also, is estab- 
iiished on essentially the same plan as that at Eldena. It has four pro- 
fessors, who give eleven courses of lectures, and the pupils pay about 
$221 per annum. 

The institute at Popplesdorf, near Bonn, and connected with its uni- 
versity, is modelled on a similar plan. But as I had an opportunity to 
■examine it, I will add a few words respecting its character. 

Popplesdorf is only a mile and a half from Bonn, through a most 
beautiful shaded walk. The splendid collections in natural history, 
belonging to the university, are at Popplesdorf, occupying the rooms of 
an ancient palace. Close by, is the model farm of the agricultural in- 
stitute. There are two professors (Drs. Schweitzer and Hartstein,) 
connected directly with the institute. They, however, have liberty, if 
they can obtain classes, of lecturing in the university. The more sci- 
entific lectures, however, are given by professors in the university, and 



1851.] . HOUSE— No. 13. 53 

the library and collections of the same are accessible to the agricul- 
tural students. I was indebted to Prof. Reisin of the university, for 
introducing me to Dr. Hartstein, and for acting as interpreter be- 
tween us. 

The studies taught at this school by its nine professors, who give 
ten courses, are so similar to those at Eldena, that I need not repeat 
the list. In order to admission, the students must be entered on the 
register of the university, in the faculty, of philosophy, which, in Ger- 
many, embraces all that is not theology, law, or medicine. They 
must also produce certificates of good conduct, and of having studied 
the classics. A few students of the other faculties in the university 
attend the agricultural lectures, but not many. The course is two 
years; the annual expense, S210; the present number of pupils is 
forty-seven, and the school has been four years in operation. Most of 
the pupils are sons of wealthy farmers, and they become, after leaving, 
farmers themselves, or directors of farms. 

The farm consists of about seventy acres of good land. I saw on 
it a great variety of crops, several of which were raised merely for 
experiment. The cultivation appeared to be good, though hardly equal 
to what I had seen on the model farms in Ireland. The barns and 
cattle as well as agricultural implements appeared to be of a superior 
character. Although the school has been in operation only four years, 
I was assured that it exerted an excellent influence upon the agricul- 
tural interests of the region. It is, however, far less liberally endowed 
than the school at Eldena ; yet it has great advantages in the libraries 
and collections of the university. 

I ought not to forget to notice my obligations to Chevalier Bunsen, 
who happened to be at Bonn at the same time as myself, and who gave 
me a letter of introduction to some of the professors. 

Another superior school, with eight professors, and a farm of 2,312 
acres, exists at Proskau, whose organization presents nothing peculiar. 

The intermediary schools prepare the pupils for the higher institutes. 
The instruction is exclusively practical, save some in the winter on the 
experience of the summer. The price of board is 869 per annum. 

In the inferior schools the pupils take the place of hired servants. 
Accordingly they pay little or nothing, and sometimes receive wages. 
They devote themselves to manual labor, to operations with cattle, and 
with horses. The number of schools is twenty-three, of which twelve 
are for teaching agriculture, two for the cultivation of meadows, irriga- 
tions, &c., one for training shepherds, and eight for the raising, dress- 
ing, and working of flax. 

The whole number of schools in Prussia, then, is thirty-two ; of 



54 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. " [Jan. 

which five are superior ; two intermediary ; twelve inferior ; thirteen 
special. Of the superior, two are connected more or less with uni- 
versities. 

AUSTRIA. 

Austria possesses some of the oldest agricultural schools in Europe. 
That at Krummau, in Bohemia, was founded in 1799, by prince 
Schwartzenberg, on a domain containing nearly 300,000 acres, in the 
same year as the Hofwyl school. The means of instruction are on a 
large scale, and the collections are very ample. They embrace a col- 
lection of rninerals ; one of philosophical and chemical instruments ; 
one of models of agricultural and other instruments and machines ; one 
of the phalenas (insects,) of the country ; an astronomical observatory ; 
a botanic garden ; a conservatory ; an herbarium ; and a pomological 
cabinet. There are four farms cultivated according to different systems. 
The instruction is gratuitous, and the professors are charged to join prac- 
tice to theory, as they have a good opportunity of doing, upon the 
ample farms. In Styria, at Graetz, is another superior school founded 
in 1809, in which nine professors give eleven courses in botany, 
zoology, mineralogy, geology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, me- 
chanics, agriculture, sylviculture, and the working of mines. Here, 
also, are collections in natural history, and in agriculture, and a rich 
library, as well as a large botanic garden. A small model farm is 
attached, as well as a model magnanery, (establishment for silk 
worms.) The instruction is gratuitous, and there ai"e ten scholarships. 

Another school of the industrial class, but of superior grade, was 
founded in Prague, in 1803, and has six professors, who give eight 
courses of lectures, viz.: in agriculture ; chemistry, general and ap- 
plied ; applied mathematics ; architecture ; mechanics ; hydraulics ; 
drawing, and technology. 

A fourth superior school was founded in 1848, at Cracow, in Aus- 
trian Poland, by Count Adam Potocky, with a capital of $4,000, and 
an annual income of $1,600. 

Attached to the university of Lemberg, the capital of Gallicia, is a 
professorship of agriculture, and another of sylviculture. But I have 
no pai-ticulars concerning the instruction. 

Of the infei-ior schools, that of Trutsch was founded by the countess 
Dietrischstein, for giving instruction to the young peasants in theoreti- 
cal, but mostly, practical agriculture. That at Koeingsheal has sixty 
boarding scholars, besides many others. 

The special schools, amounting to twenty-five, are mostly for 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 55 

the culture of flax. The course lasts one year, but some stay- 
longer. There is an annual examination, and four prizes are 
distributed. Many thousands have received instruction in these 
schools. 

Such schools as these may at first view seem of no consequence in 
this country. But if the recent improvements in the mode of convert- 
ing flax into cloth, with wool, prove as valuable as the English news- 
papers represent, (the London Morning Chronicle,) such schools, or at 
least the instruction communicated in them, may become of great im- 
portance to Massachusetts, since, in that case, flax would probably be 
substituted for cotton. 

The whole number of schools in Austria is thirty-three, of which 
four are superior, three inferior, twenty-five special, and one connected 
with a university. 

WURTEMBERG. 

The agricultural schools of this German state have long been 
known for their superior character. They are sustained and directed 
entirely by the state, while those of Prussia are carried on by individ- 
uals, aided by the state. M. Royer considers this difference a sufli- 
cient reason for the superior character of the Wurtemberg schools. 

The Royal Institute of agronomy and forests, at Hohenheim, is the 
most extensive and best known of these schools, the only one, in fact, 
of the superior class. It was founded by king William, in 1818, on 
the royal domain of some 825 acres, not including 3,000 acres of 
forest. This property is given up entirely to the management of the 
school, which renders an annual account of the expenses and receipts, 
and any deficiency is supplied by the state. 

The personnel consists of one director, six professors, and four func- 
tionaries charged with various labors, besides two tutors, who hear 
lessons in the school, although residing abroad. 

The instruction is embraced in forty courses, divided into three 
groups : — 1 . Agricultural matters. 2. Forest matters. 3. Auxiliary 
sciences. A brief statement will give an idea of the instruction. 

1st course. — Agriculture, properly so called. 1. Of climate ; 2. Of 
soil ; 3. Of manures ; 4. Of tools and instruments for tillage ; 5. Of 
clearing up the ground ; 6. Of meadows and pastures ; 7. Of agricul- 
ture in general ; a. Of ploughing and other tillage ; b. Of seed plots ; 
c. Of tillage following grain crops ; d. Of crops ; e. Of threshing and 
the preservation of grain ; 8. Of special agriculture. All cultivated 
plants are treated of particularly. 

2d course. — Viticulture ; 1. Culture of the vine ; 2. Whie making. 



56 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

3d course. — Culture of fruit trees. 

Ath course. — Raising of cattle ; The races ; The crossing ; The 
young. 

6th course. — The raising of the horse ; Natural history of the 
horse ; Different nnethods of raising ; Choice of animals for reproduc- 
tion ; Treatment of marcs ; Treatment of colts. 

6th course. — Sericulture, (silk culture,) Culture of the mulberry ; 
Management of the silk worms. 

1th course. — Rural industry ; In winter : Manufacture of beet sugar ; 
Of liquid manure ? Of malt, beer and brandy. In summer : Manu- 
facture of liquors ; Of vinegar ; Of cider ; of lime and of tiles. 

8th course : — 1. Rural economy ; 3. Valuation of rural estates ; a. 
General circumstances of the country ; b. Of farms in general ; c. Of 
different parts of a farm ; d. Of the means of maintaining the fertility 
of the soil ; e. Of systems of culture ; /. Of labor and the internal 
organization of a farm ; g. Relation between the number of beasts 
and the extent of the land worked ; h. Of the capital of the undertaker ; 
i. Of different modes of working a farm. 

9th course : — Agricultural book keeping ; In general ; Practising 
book keeping. 

lOth course : — On the operations at Hohenheim, &c. 

2. — Forest Matters. 

1st course : — Encyclopedia of the science of forests. 

2d course : — Forest botany. 

3d course : — Sylviculture. 

4f,h course : — Forest technology ; a. Working of wood ; h. Acces- 
sory products of the forests ; c. Of forest industry. 

5th course : — Preservation and defence of forests ; a. Against the 
attacks of man ; b. Do. of animals ; c. Do. against natural accidents. 

Qth course : — Hunting. 

7th course : — Forest work ; a. Of the inventory ; Surveying and de- 
scription of a forest ; b. Of the statistics of do.; c. Of the systems of 
cutting out the wood ; d. Of the valuation of forests. 

8th course : — Forest economy ; a. Political economy applied to for- 
ests ; b. Forest labors ; c. Forest police ; d. Of the government of the 
state forests. 

9th course : — Forest legislation and rules of service for forest agents 
in Wurtembcrg. 

10^/t course : — Practical j)art of forest concerns. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 57 

3. — Auxiliary Sciences. 

\st course : — Higher arithmetic. 
2rf course : — Algebra. 
3(Z course : — Planimetry. 
4th course : — Stereometry. 
5th course : — Trigonometry. 
6th course : — Applied geometry. 

Kth course : — Mathematics applied to forests ; 1. Of the culture of 
trees and of the entire forest ; 2. Of the increase of trees ; 3. Of the 
valuation in money of forests. 
8^/t course : — Physics. 
Qth course : — Mechanics. 
10//? course : — Chemistry. 
Wth course : — Oryctognosy. 
12f A course : — Geognosy. 

13f/i course : — Vegetable botany and physiology. 
14</t course : — Special and rural botany. 
15th course : — Zoology. 

16th course : — Veterinary medicine ; 1. Natural history of our do- 
mestic animals ; 2. Anatomy of do.; 3. Animal physiology ; 4. Care 
to be taken of animals ; 5. Of the medicines proper for slight diseases ; 
6. Description of diseases ; pathology and therapeutics ; 7. Veterinary 
surgery ; 8. Internal diseases of animals, and murrains. 
11th course : — Of forest law. 
I8th course: — Rural constructions. 
I9th course : — Of preparing plans. 
20th course : — Drawing of machines. 

To illustrate these courses of instruction, the means seem to be very 
ample at Hohenheim. They are as follows : — 

The operations on a large farm annexed to the Institute. 
A forest of 5000 acres. 
A botanic garden. 
A library open twice a week. 
A geological collection. 
A mineralogical do. 
A botanical do. 

A collection of woods, seeds, and resins from the forest. 
A collection in comparative anatomy. 
Do. of specimens of wool. 
Do. of agricultural products. 
Do. of models of instruments for tillage. 
8 



58 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

Instruments for surveying. 

Do. for physical science. 

Do. for the chemical laboratory. 

The students board where they please, at a price from $24 to $120 
per annum, but lodge at the institute. 

The number of students in 1849 was about 100, but it had been 140 
for many years. No less than 1650 finished their education at this semi- 
nary within thirty-one years. And how is it possible that so many, having 
gone through such a thorough system of instruction, should not exert a 
powerful influence upon agriculture throughout the community ? 

There is also at Hohenheim, a practical school of agriculture for or- 
phans and poorer children of peasants, who receive instruction gra- 
tuitously, and are paid for their labor. Also a school of horticulture, 
whose special object is the cultivation of fruit trees, of garden vegeta- 
bles, and ornamental trees. The pupils do all the work, yet receive 
five lessons in horticulture in the week, and one or two on agriculture 
each day. There is also, at the same place, a school for meadows 
and irrigations, — theoretical in the winter and practical in summer. 
The pupils receive wages. A school likewise exists in the same place, 
for the cultivation of fruit trees, for the preparation of flax, and the 
manufactory of agricultural instruments. Schools of agriculture have 
been also opened in a few other places in the state, in which the course 
of instruction appears to be rather extensive. 

The whole number of schools is seven ; one superior, two inter- 
mediary, one inferior, and three special. Probably nowhere in Europe 
shall we find a better model for such schools than at Hohenheim. 

BAVABIA. 

Bavaria has one school of the superior class at Scheissheim, near 
Munich. It was founded in 1822, on a national domain of 6,415 acres, 
on which from 350 to 500 head of cattle are supported. There are, 
in fact, two schools ; one superior, to teach theory, and one practical, 
to apply, test, and elucidate theory. The instruction in the superior 
school embraces eleven courses, so similar to those at Hohenheim, 
that I need not repeat them. The lower school is intended to be pre- 
paratory for admission to the superior. The examination for such ad- 
mission requires the candidate to be sixteen years of age, to have gone 
over the studies of the lower school, and to understand " a little of 
Latin, to be able to comprehend the terminology of agriculture." 

Not less than thirty-two inferior schools have been established in as 
many towns of the kingdom, but they are not in all cases in a flourish- 
ing state, and need no detailed description. They are, in fact, for the 
most part, industrial schools, in which agriculture is taught. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 59 

The school at Litchenhof, near Nuremberg, of a mixed or interme- 
diary class, deserves notice. It was founded in 1833, by Dr. Weden- 
keller, and sustained for a time by men of wealth. His success 
determined the government to create scholarships. It comprehends, in 
fact, four different schools in a three years' course. 

1. A preparatory school, — agricultural and industrial. 

2. A school of horticulture. 

3. A school for head servants. 

4. A school for herdsmen and shepherds. 

The subjects taught the first year are religion, German language, 
geography, arithmetic, zoology, agriculture, agricultural art?, drawing, 
and practical agricultural exercises. 

The second year ; — The same subjects pursued further ; with ge- 
ometry, botany, mineralogy, history. 

The third year ; — Religion, German language, compositions, agri- 
cultural chemistry, farm accounts, agriculture, rural architecture, ma- 
chines, anatomy of animals, veterinary medicine, drawing, riding and 
fencing, practical exercises. 

There are also facilities for learning Latin and French. 

This school should be placed as high at least as the intermediary 
class ; and then we shall have in Bavaria, one superior school, one 
intermediary, thirty-two inferior, and one special ; in all, thirty-five. 

SAXONY. 

This kingdom has one superior school, three intermediary, and one 
special ; five in all. 

The superior school is at Tharand, and was established in 1811, by 
H. Cotta, simply as a school for forests, but afterwards, in 1829, agri- 
culture was added. The domain contains 7,355 acres, and there are 
nine professoi-s ; two of them for the forests. The two years' course 
of instruction scarcely differs from that of the better schools already 
described. 

From 1816 to 1841, no less than 826 pupils left this school, of 
whom 701 devoted themselves to the forests, and 125 to agriculture. 
But the latter branch was not introduced till 1829. Since 1841, the 
mean number of pupils has been about 80, and the whole number 
since the foundation of the school has been 1,100. It has a libraiy, 
collections of natural history, and a garden. Every year the school 
makes extensive excursions, or takes a scientific voyage. 

The course is two years long. Charge for tuition varies from $35 
to ^52 annually, foreign students being charged the highest. 

The intermediary school at Dresden, is limited to ten or twelve pu- 



60 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

pils. The course of instruction is ample, and similar to that in other 
schools. More facilities seem to be afforded here for the study of 
languages than is usual. Greek and Latin are among the number, 
with other modei'n languages besides the German. 

A similar school exists at Broesa near Bautzen. In this school the 
summer is devoted to the practice and the winter to the study of ag- 
riculture. Here also, as in some other German schools, agricultural 
discussions are conducted by the pupils. 

Another similar establishment exists at Schoenfeld, near Dresden. 
Here instruction is embraced in six coui'ses ; the same as already no- 
ticed, with the addition of the theory and practice of working iron. 
Excursions are made by the pupils to well conducted farms. There 
are scholarships for one in five of the pupils. The charge for in- 
struction varies from $17 to $10. 

A school of the special class for orphan children exists at Gro- 
shennersdorf, on a farm of fifty-eight acres. The special instruc- 
tion is based on the labors of the farm, of which three-quarters are 
performed by the spade, and one quarter by the plough. To the culti- 
vation of fruit trees they add that of the mulberry, and raise silk 
worms and bees. The pupils labor about seven hours per day. The 
ordinary instruction embraces religion, reading, writing, arithmetic, 
German grammar, a little of geography, singing and gymnastic exer- 
cises. They enter at eight years and leave at fourteen. 

BRUNSWICK. 

Brunswick has only two schools, one superior, the other inferior. 
The object of the former is to give that scientific instruction which forms 
the basis of various branches of industry. Practice is not employed 
except to make theory understood. 

This school, located in Brunswick, has thirteen professors, who give 
thirteen courses, as follows: — 1. Physics and general chemistry; 2. 
Mathematics, pure ; geometry and linear drawing ; 3. Mineralogy and 
zoology ; 4 Architecture ; 5. Transcendental mathematics ; 6. Rural 
economy ; 7. Applied chemistry ; 8. Mechanical technology ; 9 Natur- 
al history ; 10. Raising of horses, pathology, and therapeutics of do- 
mestic animals ; 11. Veterinary medicine ; 12. Forest science ; 13. Ar- 
chitecture. (There are two professors of architecture ) The means of 
instruction are very ample ; consisting in cabinets, laboratories, and 
collections, for every kind of instruction ; also a botanic garden, a ducal 
museum, stables, &c. E.xcursions are made to the various agricultural 
manufactories, and to the forests ; and experiments on a large scale 
are carried on upon two adjoining farms. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 61 

The inferior school is a private establishment for the sons of peas- 
ants, with a coui'se of two years' instruction, having three professors. 

MECKLENBURG SCHWERIN. 

The only agricultural establishment in this state is a private one, at 
Carlshof, belonging to the intermediary class. Its object is to give 
sufficient instruction to future cultivators and farmers. In the list of 
studies, I notice no peculiarity, except one item, which teaches the 
values of foreign moneys, the importance of which, any one can ap- 
preciate who has travelled in Germany. 

SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN. 

This state reckons four agricultural schools ; two intermediary, and 
two inferior. They are founded and sustained by individuals, or so- 
cieties, and not by government. 

The agronomic institute of Toestrup, has about twenty pupils. A 
field for experiments is provided ; also a nursery of fruit trees ; a 
forest nursery ; collection of model instruments, and a library. 

Of the inferior schools, that at Rodding was founded by a society 
in Copenhagen, which pays $240 annually to a professor of agriculture. 
That at Jevenstaed numbers about forty scholars. 

PRINCIPALITY OF ANHALT. 

This principality contains two schools, one superior, and one inter- 
mediary. The former, at Coswig, has ten professors, and the course 
is one year. The instruction is divided into four parts : — 1. Practical 
instruction in the manufactures of the institute. 2. Regular courses 
on agricultural technology, and the auxiliary sciences, such as physics, 
chemistry, political economy, and the laws relating to agricultural 
matters. 

The course on technology embraces the manufacture of alcohol, of 
liquors, of vinegar, of leaven, of syrup, of sugar, of oil, of beer, of 
butter, of cheese, of lime, of tiles, &c. 

3. Discussions in the presence of the professors, 

4. Manual labors. 

The intermediary school at Cocksted was founded in 1837, for irri- 
gations, and agriculture. Its course lasts only a year ; that part in 
summer being devoted to irrigations, and that in winter to agriculture. 

Of the thirty-two pupils in this school from 1839 to 1847, seventeen 
were preparing to become agriculturists ; six civil engineers ; six de- 
voted to the science of forests, and three functionaries. Eight of 



62 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

these were Danes, five Swedes, and three Russians ; the other half na- 
tives of the country. 

GRAND DUCHY OF HESSE. 

Of the two schools in this state, the one situated at Darmstadt is in- 
terntiediary, and the other, at Arnsburg, i^ for practical agriculture, but 
placed in the same rank. There is nothing in their organization that 
needs particular notice in this connection. 

GRAND DUCHY OF WEIMAR. 

The only school in this duchy is of the superior class, situated at 
Jena, and connected with the university in that place. Its objects are, 
1. To perfect young agriculturists in the theory and practice of agri- 
culture. 2. To afford to those already practical agriculturists, the 
means of following the course at the university. 3. To prepare func- 
tionaries for the different departments of the government. The pupils 
rank with those of the university. 

The lectures in the university, attended by the agricultural scholars, 
embrace political economy, history, philosophy, mathematics, natural 
histoiy and law. The instruction in the school proper embraces a 
great variety of subjects, among which I notice none not already 
named, unless it be the art of shoeing horses, in connection with veteri- 
nary medicine. To this instruction are added discussions, compositions 
on agricultural subjects, analytical exercises in the laboratory, visits to 
the botanic garden, and the collections, and to farms well managed. 
The yearly tuition is 830, and the whole expense $210. 

DUCHY OF NASSAU. 

The Agronomic Institute at Geissberg, one and a half miles from 
Wiesbaden, is the only agricultural school in this duchy, and is of the 
superior class, though its organization is somewhat peculiar. It was 
founded in 1835, by the state, and under the impression that the theory 
and practice of agriculture could not be well united in the same 
school. The pupils remain at the institute only during the winter, and 
in the summer they are at home, or with good farmers. There is, 
however, a farm of about seventy-five acres attached to the school. 

I visited this establishment, and found it delightfully situated, on an 
estate of the duke of Nassau, a little north of the village of Wiesba- 
den. The buildings are upon a hill, well cultivated, which rises a few 
hundred feet above Wiesbaden, and overlooks the broad valley of the 
Rhine ; Mayence lying in the distance ; and other towns are visible. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 63 

The buildings are in fine style, and the rooms devoted to the collections, 
of a superior character. In them I found collections of rocks, birds, 
quadrupeds, seeds, grains, and grasses ; a pomological cabinet in wax, 
models of agricultural instruments, and a good library. The course 
lasts two years, and the instruction is given by lectures and recitations. 
The pupils number at present about fifty. Government pays about $18 
for each pupil, and there are six scholarships, of $10 each, for the 
most regular and laborious. Natives of the country pay nothing for 
tuition ; foreigners pay about $18. Those who board out of the estab- 
lishment pay from $70 to $140 for board. 

For the first winter, the course of instruction in this school embraces 
the German language, arithmetic, mineralogy, botany, physics, general 
agriculture, general zootechny, culture of meadows, rural architecture, 
and veterinary medicine. 

For the second winter, compositions, zoology, physics, farm accounts, 
special agriculture, special zootechny, horticulture, technology, and 
veterinary medicine. 

All the agricultural schools which I have visited in Europe, like that 
at Geissberg, have a beautiful location ; and I think this a point not to 
be overlooked in fixing upon a place for such a school, for scenery 
has a great influence upon the youthful mind and heart. 

ELECTORATE OF HESSE. 

The only establishment for agriculture in this electorate, is the Insti- 
tute at Beberbcck, founded in 1846, on a domain belonging to the 
elector, containing, besides pasturage, 620 acres. Its course of instruc- 
tion is ample, as are its collections. But there is little that is peculiar, 
or that has not already been described. The school belongs to the 
superior class. 

GRAND DUCHY OF BADEN. 

This duchy has only one school, and that of the intermediary class, 
situated at Hochburg, founded in 1848, on the national domain. Its 
course continues three years. Its course of instruction is ample, but 
need not be given here. The pupils have twelve lessons a week in the 
winter, and seventeen in summer. As to practical instruction, the first 
year is confined to ordinary manual labors, the second to the care of 
animals, and the third to spans of horses in harness, and to all soiis of 
labors. 

The pupils receive wages ; the first year, $28 ; the second year, 
$37 ; and the third year, $46 ; but the cost of board is $70. Instruc- 
tion is gratuitous, and the state pays to each pupil, a gratuity of $16. 



64 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 



DUCHY OF SAXE MEININGEN. 

Only one school, and that of the inferior class, exists in this duchy, 
founded in 1847, at Frauenbreitungen. I cannot find that it has any- 
thing peculiar to it, not already described. Its object is to prepare 
practical cultivators, not neglecting the theory. 

RUSSIA. 

Within a few years past, the government of Russia has been much 
awake to the subject of agricultural schools. Not less than sixty-eight 
of these have been established, two of which are superior, ten interme- 
diary, fifty-one inferior, four special, and one connected with a 
university. 

The Agronomic Institute of St. Petersburg was founded in 1833, on a 
territory of 330 acres. Its organization cost 700,000 roubles, ($525,- 
000,) and its annual support, 100,000 roubles, ($75,000.)* 

Its objects are : — 1. To give theoretical and practical agricultural 
instruction to the children of the imperial serfs. 2. To try the differ- 
ent systems of cultivation practised abroad, to ascertain which of them 
will answer for Russia. 3. To form directors for the model farms. 
The course lasts five years, and embraces religion, sacred history, the 
liturgy ; discussions, moral and instructive ; mathematics, pure and 
applied ; surveying and agriculture. The number of pupils is 250, 
who are allowed to enter at fifteen. In giving instruction, the method 
of Lancaster is adopted, and it is more practical than theoretical. 

The personnel consists of a director, a sub director, a priest, a physi- 
cian, a steward, professors, and overseers. The labor is performed by 
the pupils, even such as shoemaking, locksmithing, joinery, and cabi- 
net work. There is a library, a brewery, and particularly, numerous 
workshops. 

The Imperial Institute at Gorgigoretz embraces, in fact, a superior, 
intermediary, and inferior school. In the first, there are 200 pupils, 
sons of the peasants, supported by the state, at an expense of 
each, annually. In the second, are thirty-five scholars, who pay 
each, for board, clothing, &c. In the third, the course is three years, 
and the pupils, eighty-five in number, come from the middle classes of 
society, and they pay $84 for better accommodations. 

To take charge of this superior school, there is one director, a pro- 
fessor of agriculture, and six adjunct professors, of whom two are 

* Reckoning the rouble at seventy-five cents. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 65 

for agriculture, rural economy, and sylviculture ; two for natural sci- 
ences ; and two for public and administrative law, statistics, and litera- 
ture ; also eight professors for teaching religion, the Russian and 
German languages, mathematics, history, geography, architecture, 
geodesy, drawing and writing. 

The other officers of this higher school arc an inspector, and three 
adjuncts, one veterinary physician, one steward, one cashier, one chief 
secretary, and one accountant. 

Another school of the superior class, is the Agronomic Institute of 
Moscow, founded in 1843, whose term of study is five years, whose 
farm is 660 acres, and whose course of study is ample. The pupils 
pay about $100 per annum. The professor of agriculture is connected 
with the university of Moscow, but what other relations the school has 
to the university I cannot ascertain. 

Two schools, one of the intermediary and one of the inferior class, 
have been established at Marjino, by the countess Straganow. To the 
first, she gave $11,000, and it had one hundred and twenty-five pupils in 
1844, of whom sixty-four were intended for agriculture, thirty -six for 
the mines, seventeen for forest economy, and fourteen for surveying. 
In this school are twenty professors, with a salary each of $825. The 
student pays $138 annually. 

Since 1845, not less than fifty inferior schools have been established 
in connection with model farms. Some of them have a four years' 
course, on farms varying from 1,375 to 2,220 acres, with from 100 
to 200 pupils. They are really of a higher grade than the farm 
schools of other countries. 

Of the four special schools, one is for horticulture , one for silks, one 
for bees, and one for flax. But further details respecting such schools 
can be of little use. 

SWEDEN. 

Professor Johnstone, in his Agricultural Address at Syracuse, in 
Sept. 1849, speaks of agricultural schools and model farms as existing 
in Sweden, and says that one of these establishments " each province 
is expected in a few years to possess." But he has given no details, 
nor are any within my reach. 

SUMMARY, 

I have thus given a brief and imperfect sketch of the Agricultural 
Schools in Europe. Many facts, which would be important, it has 
been impossible for me to obtain in the limited time allotted me. I 
9 



66 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



[Jan. 



presume that the list which I have given, falls short of the actual num- 
ber of such schools in Europe, for I doubt not that they have been 
increased a good deal within the last few months. Thus, it was an- 
nounced some time since, as the intention of the Prussian government, 
to establish superior schools in all the provinces of that kingdom. 
And from a recent paragraph in the Cologne Gazette, 1 presume that 
this intention, delayed for a time from the disturbed political state of 
the country, has been carried into effect. That Gazette states, in its 
number for Sept. 27th, 1850, that " the government has ordered 
the establishment of agricultural schools, on scientific principles, on a 
very large scale." — N. Y. Tribune of Oct. 24th, 1850. 
.^ ,.But though my list is doubtless deficient, 1 have been amazed, as I 
doubt not the committee will be, at its extent. The following summary 
will bring the whole subject under the eye : — 













Connect- 








[nterme- 






ed with 




SCHOOLS, 


Superior 
Schools. 


diary 
Schools. 


Inferior 
Schools. 


Sppcial 
Schools. 


Colleges 
iind Uni- 
versities. 


Total. 


In England, - - - 


1 


. 


4 


. 


. 


5 


In Ireland, . - . 


1 


25 


34 


- 


3 


63 


In Scotland, - - - 


- 


- 


- 


- 


2 


2 


In France, ... 


5 


- 


70 


- 


- 


75 


In Italy, 


- 


- 


1 


- 


1 


2{?) 


In Belgium, ^ o /;;!!- 


- 


3 


2 


1 


3 


9 


In Prussia, _ - - 


3 


2 


12 


13 


2 


32 


In Austria, . - - 


4 


- 


3 


25 


1 


33 


In Wurtemberg, 


1 


2 


1 


3 


- 


7 


In Bavaria, . . - 


1 


1 


32 


1 


- 


35 


In Saxony, . - - 


1 


3 


- 


1 


- 


5 


In Brunswick, - - - 


- 


1 


1 


- 


- 


2 


In Mechlenburg Schwerin, 


- 


1 




- 


- 


1 


In Schleswig Holstein, 


- 


2 


2 


- 


- 


4 


In the Principality of Anhault, - 


1 


1 


- 


- 


- 


2 


In the Grand Duchy of Hesse, 


- 


. 2 


- 


- 


- 


2 


In the Grand Duchy of Weimar, 


- 


- 


- 


- 


1 


1 


In tlie Duchy of Nassau, 


1 


- 


- 


- 


- 


1 


In tlie Electorate of Hesse, 


1 


- 


- 


- 


- 


1 


In the Grand Duchy of Baden, - 


- 


1 


- 


- 


- 


1 


In the Duchy of Saxe Meiningen, 


- 


- 


1 


- 


- 


1 


In Russia, . - - 


2 


10 


51 


4 


1 


68 


' '■ Total, - 


22 


54 


214 


48 


14 


352 



Though these schools have been grouped together in the above 
table into four distinct classes, yet in fact they are not always as dis- 
tinct as thus represented ; and I have found it difficult, in all cases, to 
fix the place of a school on this scale. But these distinctions are in 
the main correct, and therefore of use, if understood as not mathe- 
. matically accurate. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 67 

In the Tabular View of the Agricultural Schools of Europe, append- 
ed to this report, will be found many of the facts above detailed, and 
others that have not been named. The blanks in that table are, in- 
deed, numerous ; but the labor of preparing it, even in its present 
imperfect state, has not been small. Even a list of the places where 
these schools are situated, will, I trust, be of some importance, since," 
if made public, it might direct the attention of travellers to the schools, 
which otherwise they would pass unnoticed. And thus, since Ameri- 
cans are found yearly in so great numbers all over Europe, we may 
hope ere long to obtain full information concerning the schools. That 
travellers have hitherto, for the most part, been ignorant of their exist- 
ence, is the only way in which I can explain the fact that so little is 
known of them. 

State of Practical Agriculture in European Countries 
WHERE Schools exist. 

England and portions of Scotland doubtless exhibit the best examples 
of husbandry in Europe. In Ireland you see much in the cultiva- 
tion to admire. Holland shows the great patience, as well as no small 
degree of success, of its farmers. Belgium has been too much cele- 
brated, perhaps ; yet its farmers have had much success upon tracts of 
land poor and sandy ; but the principles of agriculture are not widely 
diffused, and the skill of the people is limited to a few points of hus- 
bandry. France certainly exhibits much excellent tillage to an un- 
prejudiced eye, not generally, however, equal to that in England. 
Italy, with its fine climate and naturally good soil, cannot but show 
success, even under comparatively unenlightened tillage. In the val- 
leys of Switzerland we see the influence of comparatively free institu- 
tions and natural ingenuity in the cultivation of the soil ; so that the 
traveller is struck with the fine appearance of the farms, and their 
productiveness, even in some cases at the foot of the glaciers. There 
is a great difference, however, in .the different cantons, and the differ- 
ence corresponds in a good degree to the state of education. In Ger 
many there is much difference in the agricultural condition of different 
states and kingdoms. In Prussia, the farmers have had to contend 
with a poor soil, and with feudal impositions. Yet one sees fine farm- 
ing in the Rhenish provinces. Saxony, with a naturally rich soil, is 
said to exceed all other parts of Germany in her husbandry. In 
Bavaria and Wurtemberg, though abounding in agricultural societies and 
schools, the general state of agriculture is not elevated. In Russia, so 
thinly settled, there is a vast amount of uncultivated land. Yet in the 
vicinity of the cities, and where there are enough laborers, good cul- 



68 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

tivation is common. In this country is the famous Tchornozevi, or 
black earth, a deposit, often from fifteen to twenty feet thick, so fertile 
as to need no manure, yet occupying an area " large as an European 
kingdom." (Murchisons's Geology of Russia, Vol. I, p. 557.) It 
seems to correspond essentially with the prairie soils of our country, 
and with the rcgur, or rich cotton soils of Hindostan. In Scandina- 
via the Swedes have shown commendable skill and industry in the cul- 
tivation of a country geologically analogous to that of New England. 
(For further details, see Professor Johnstone'' s Syracuse Address.) 

Now it must be confessed that we do not find a very close correspond- 
ence between the practical agriculture of European countries, and the 
number of their agricultural societies and schools. For wherever schools 
ex:ist, societies are also numerous. In France, for instance, there are 
nearly two hundred societies, and seventy-five schools. In Bavaria is 
a general society, numbering 8,000 members, and thirty-five schools. 
Hence, some would infer that schools are useless. But in the first 
place, if schools are useless, so are societies. Secondly, we must 
recollect that most of these schools have existed only a very few 
years, and that agricultural improvements are necessarily introduced 
slowly ; so that as yet we ought not to expect to witness much effect 
from these institutions. Thirdly, very much depends upon the manner 
in which the schools are conducted. If the community take little or no 
interest in them, no matter how able the professors. Now if, in this 
country, the government should take such an exclusive direction of 
agricultural schools as is done in France, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, it 
would be almost certain that the people would take no interest in them. 
Fourthly, it cannot be doubted, that there are causes operating to ad- 
vance or retard agriculture, more powerful than schools and societies. 
For example, natural fertility, or sterility ; wars and revolutions ; op- 
pressive taxes ; individual ignorance, or knowledge. In England and 
Scotland, for instance, so elevated is the intelligence of the larger 
farmers and pi'oprietors that they scarcely need schools, since each 
man is on the look out for improvements, and has the skill to apply 
them. I contend only, that schools are among the means of advancing 
the interests of agriculture, without attempting to fix their comparative 
importance among other means. For in such a country as ours, we 
need to use them all. 

Remarks upon the Facts. 

I. They show us an extraordinary increase of interest in Europe^ 
on the suhject of Agricultural Schools, within a few years past. Mr. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 69 

Colman finished his able Report on European Agriculture in 1844, and 
in it he describes only nine agricultural schools, though others then 
existed on the continent, of which he was not probably aware. But 
the larger part of the 352 above enumerated have come into existence 
since that time. The fact shows a strong conviction on the European 
mind, of their importance, and is one of the fruits of the peace that now 
generally prevails 

II. These schools may he divided into two classes : — 

1. Professorships in colleges and universities. 

2. Independent schools. 

III. The latter class, by far the most numerous, may he grouped into 
four kinds, differing mainly as to the extent of instruction given, and the 

objects aimed at. 1. Superior ; 2. Intermediary ; 3. Inferior; 4. Spe- 
cial. The last includes those devoted to instruction in some particular 
branch, such as horticulture, the cultivation and preparation of flax, 
irrigation, &c. 

IV. With a very few exceptions, — I do not recollect any, save the 
university of Edinburgh, — a farm, or at least a few acres of land, is 
connected ivith the school. Thus the practical part of agriculture is 
attended to, in a manner, it would seem, that must satisfy those who 
have the least confidence in theory. 

V. The course of instruction, both scientific and practical, is essen- 
tially the same in all the schools of Europe. Some include moi'e 
branches than others, but there are certain essentials always included in 
the instruction. 

VI. European Agricultural Schools have taught us some importa?it 
lessons. 

1. That these schools usually fail, if they do not receive efficient 
aid from the government. 

2. That agricultural societies are not sufficient. These exist in all 
the countries above enumerated, I believe, and have done great good. 
But the conviction is very general there, that schools should be added 
to the societies ; especially in countries where cultivation is a good 
deal deficient. 

3. That theory is to be tested by practice ; and such theories as will 
not sustain this test are to be rejected. 

4. That these schools are doing very much to promote the progress 
of agriculture. This was the general testimony. 

5. That to teach agriculture in the primary schools and academies is 
not sufficient. This does some good, but does not accomplish all that 
is desirable. 

6. That agricultural professorships, in colleges and universities, are 



70 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

not sufficient. 1. Because lectures of this sort attract but few of the 
students of the colleges, who are looking forward to pi-ofessional life. 
Such is certainly the case everywhere in Europe. 2. Because the two 
classes of students, who would thus be brought together, would have 
too little sympathy to act in concert, and as equals, in the same institu- 
tion. 3. Because, without such concert and sympathy, one or other 
of the classes of students would feel no pride in the institution ; and 
without such an esprit de corps it could not prosper. 4. Because such 
professorships, unless numerous, would be entirely insufficient to ac- 
complish the objects desired. 

VII. The lowest class of schools in Europe, the Inferior, are not 
needed in Massachusetts. 

1. Because the sons of our farmers are so well educated, that they 
can easily be prepared to enter at least the second grade of schools. 

2. Because these inferior schools are adapted rather to paupers and 
orphans, and others in destitution, than to the sons of farmers in easy 
circumstances. 

3. We already have institutions of this sort, as the Farm School, in 
Boston, for those who are destitute. 

4. Because the subject of agriculture can easily be introduced into 
our common schools, so far as is necessary to learn the common prin- 
ciples of farming, or to fit boys to enter the higher institutions. 

VIII. We learn that those agricultural institutions succeed iest luhich 
are started and sustained by the mutual efforts and contributions of 
indiinduals, or societies, and of the government. 

The schools in France, started by enterprising individuals, lan- 
guished, and some of them failed, until the government lent an effi- 
cient hand. Very likely, the want of governmental patronage had 
something to do with the failure of the Hofwyl School, in Switzerland ; 
and it struck me that the Agricultural College of England, at Ciren- 
cester, languishes for the same reason. It is said that in Wurtemberg, 
the schools succeed well, because the government started and sustains 
them alone. I know too little of their circumstances and condition to 
throw light on the subject. But sure I am, that, in this country, the 
mutual exertions of the government and the people will be essential to 
success ; for this reason, if for no other, that here the people constitute 
the government : and if their representatives do not act in conformity to 
their wishes, their decisions will be reversed. 

IX. We learn, from European experience, that independent agricul- 
tural institutions are essential to accomplish the object which is aimed 
at. 

\. Because the field is wide enough to require such establishments. 



1851.] HOUSE~No. 13. 71 

The principles of agriculture are based upon a large part of the physi- 
cal sciences ; and it requires a good literary education to understand 
those sciences. No man can understand the pi'inciples of farming, 
who is not more or less acquainted with chemistry, anatomy, physiol- 
ogy, botany, mineralogy, geology, meteorology, and zoology ; and 
then the practical part requires an extensive acquaintance with various 
branches of mathematics and natural philosophy. Many important 
principles of agriculture can, indeed, be taught in the primary schools, 
or academy ; but there should, be, somewhere, institutions of a higher 
character, entirely devoted to a thorough instruction and investigation 
of the science of the subject. 

2. Because it demands extensive collections, of various kinds, in 
order to elucidate the principles of husbandry ; enough, indeed, to be- 
long to any scientific institution, and too many to form a mere subor- 
dinate branch of some institution with a different object in view. 

3. Because the number of instructors must be so large, that they 
could not conveniently form an adjunct to some other institution. 

4. Because the interests of agriculture are large enough to demand 
an institution definitely consecrated to their promotion. No other art 
is so important, and, I may add, no other is so difficult to be success- 
fully cultivated ; and, therefore, every means possible should be em- 
ployed to render it assistance. 

X. Essentially the same reasons^ and of greater force, exist for the 
establishment of Agricultural Schools in this country, as in Europe. 

1. It is the most ready and effectual mode of making farmers under- 
stand the principles on which good husbandry is founded. 

Some have an idea that there are no such principles, and that the 
cultivation of the soil is a hap-hazard affair, and that guessing is as 
good a way as any, to secure good crops. I am aware that all the 
principles of managing land are not yet well settled, and that different 
circumstances often disappoint those who follow the best rules. But 
if there are no scientific principles on which husbandly is based, then 
one mode of farming is as good as another ; a position which I am 
sure no reasonable man- will take. And if one mode of tillage is bet- 
ter than another, there must be reasons for the difference, and those 
reasons are the very principles we are seeking after. Now it will be 
the leading object of agricultural schools to discover these principles, 
and to apply them in such a manner as to satisfy others that they are 
safe and valuable. Another object of such schools is, to detect and 
disprove, both theoretically and practically, any false principles and 
practices that may have been adopted by the community as true. The 
sons of farmers, who attend these schools, will learn to distinguish the 



72 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

true from the false principles, on this subject ; and, on their return to 
the paternal roof, will communicate their knowledge, and apply it 
in practice. 

2. These schools will furnish the most effectual means of intro- 
ducing, among farmers, improvements in husbandry. Those Avho have 
the management of such schools will be on the watch for every valua- 
ble improvement, and be ready to make trial of any that are proposed. 
They will be in communication with similar schools, and with agricul- 
tural societies, in other lands, and thus learn, very early, whatever may 
aid the farmer, in regard to stock, implements of labor, new crops, 
and modes of culture. They will, therefore, form centres of infor- 
mation for the agricultural community, and, by going to them, the 
farmer may see, in their collections, new tools, grasses, grains, 

seeds, &c. 

I know that agricultural societies and individuals can do a good deal 
to diffuse this information ; but, as above remarked, they are not suffi- 
cient. At least, so think most of the countries of Europe, where such 
societies exist. The governments there feel the need of something 
more. England has, indeed, reached a very advanced state of agri- 
cultural improvement, with but little aid from schools. But it has 
taken a long time ; and, at present, she is just the country that least 
needs the aid of schools, because her agriculture is in so advanced a 
state, and there are so many societies and educated individuals who are 
doing all they can to advance the interests of husbandry. 

3. Agriculture, more than any other art, needs special help. First, 
because the principles on which it is founded are more difficult to be 
understood and applied than those of other arts. The processes of the 
farmer depend upon some of the most profound and subtle principles 
of chemistry, meteorology, physiology, and zoology ; and so compli- 
cated are the causes of success or failure, that often the man who could 
solve a problem in fluxions, would be unable to unravel them. Sec- 
ondly, because, for various reasons, other arts have always been more 
attractive, especially for youth, than agriculture ; and hence, fewer 
efforts have been made to understand and apply its principles. In our 
country, at least, it is decidedly behind most of the other arts, although 
confessedly the most important. 

4. A comparison of the state of agriculture in Europe with its con- 
dition in our country, shows the great need we have of agricultural 
schools, as well as societies and individual efforts. There are, indeed, 
several circumstances that lead an European to underrate the state of 
our agriculture. The great amount of loose stones, (called drift by 
the geologists,) that cover the surface in the Northern States, and 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 73 

which our farmers have been able only to begin removing, gives the 
soil a most repulsive and ragged appearance to a European, save one 
perhaps from Scandinavia. Then, too, our uncouth wooden fences, 
which so often shelter a broad strip of bushes or weeds, in the place of 
beautifully trimmed hedges ; and our undrained and uncleared swamps ; 
the large amount of pasture ground, scarcely reclaimed, in many cases, 
from its native state ; and our entangled and untrimmed forests ; — all 
these and other circumstances turn off the mind of the foreigner from 
the real question at issue, viz., whether the acres of ground that are 
cultivated here, produce much less than the same amount in Europe. 
But, making due allowance for unfavorable biases from such causes, it 
must be merely an excess of national vanity for any one, who has 
travelled in Europe, to be very sensitive, if gentlemen from that quar- 
ter oi the globe represent us as much behind the farmers on the other 
side of the Atlantic, in respect to the cultivation of our farms. I do 
not see how any one can pass over those countries, and not be struck 
with the difference. He will see many crops there, of great service, 
scarcely if at all known here. And several subjects, there well under- 
stood, are scarcely known or but little attended to here ; e. g., drain- 
ing and irrigation. (See Colman's Report on European Agriculture, 
Vol. 2, p. 592.) Attention to their forests forms a part of their legis- 
lation, and of courses of lectures in their agricultural schools. But in 
Massachusetts, and still worse, in many other states, our beautiful native 
forests are often treated in a manner little better than vandalism ; and 
these ornaments to the landscape are fast disappearing, apparently with 
no consciousness that they are of any value, except the sum of money 
they will bring in the market, as wood or timber. Some of the county 
agricultural societies, in Massachusetts, have, however, I believe, turned 
their attention to this subject. 

XI. We have, in this country, several advantages over Europeans,, 
for establishing Agricultural Schools. 

1. We have a more perfect state of civil and religious liberty. Even, 
most of the freest of those nations have a state religion to support, and, 
therefore, have not religious liberty. I observed that this fact was a 
constant source of embarrassment in the schools ; and, in general,, 
those schools in Europe are controlled so entirely by the government,, 
as in this country would alienate the people from them. 

2. The absence here of those broad distinctions of caste, which prevail 
nearly in every part of Europe. I am satisfied that this is one of the 
greatest obstacles to such schools in Europe. If a school is open for 
the poor, then the rich, and even those but little above poverty, will 
stay away. If it is adapted to the wealthy, the poor cannot enter. . 

10 



74 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan, 

Some of the schools have changed their policy several times, in respect 
to this point. But among us there will be no difficulty in adapting a 
school to all classes. Indeed, if not so adapted, it would not be patron- 
ized ; or, at least, would do very little good. 

3. We are comparatively free from taxes, and can therefore be more 
liberal towards schools. Till he visits Europe, an American has little 
idea of the vast difference between men, in this respect, on the opposite 
sides of the Atlantic, nor on what vantage ground it places his coun- 
trymen ; and how much easier it is for them, especially the poorer 
classes, to be liberal towards worthy objects, than in Europe, 

4. In this country, the cultivators of the soil are usually the owners 
of it ; and it is they, mainly, who must establish an agricultural school, 
if one is established, for their own and their children's benefit. But 
in Europe, for the most part, the laborers have little concern in the 
matter. They rarely own the soil which they cultivate ; and, there- 
fore, take but little interest in getting up schools : nay, they are some- 
times afraid of them, lest they should so improve agriculture as to 
diminish their wages. The schools, therefore, are got up by those who 
own extensive estates, and who are anxious to make them more profit- 
able ; or by political men, who know how much the prosperity of a 
kingdom depends upon its agriculture. 

5. The superior state of education in Massachusetts, among the la- 
boring classes, gives us another decided advantage over Europeans in 
the establishment of agricultural schools. 

It would be quite practicable, I think, to require, for admission to 
our schools, as much knowledge as is demanded in many of the Euro- 
pean schools for completing the course ; and that, too, if our pupils 
were the sons of the common farmers. Now, it is not national vanity, 
but simply the statement of a fact, to say, that this could not be done 
in any European country, save perhaps in Scotland, where few agri- 
cultural schools exist. In most other countries, the sons of the common 
peasantry, or laborers, are incapable of receiving that benefit from 
these schools, which the poorest might derive in this State. Here, they 
could start from a much higher point in their career of agricultural 
learning, and, of course, terminate their course at a level proportiona- 
bly more elevated. 

6. We have European experience to direct us in this matter, and 
can more easily avoid the mistakes which that experience points out, 
and introduce its better plans, than can be done by institutions already 
established. 

XII. The conclusion to which my own mind has been brought, by 
these investigations, is, that Massachusetts should lose no time in taking 
hold of the business of agricultural education, efficiently and liberally. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 75 

I can hardly doubt, from all that I have seen and heard for the last 
ten years, that there is a strong desire and expectation that the Legis- 
lature should move in this matter without delay. I have heard it talked 
about almost everywhere ; it has formed the burthen of a large part of 
the addresses delivered at the annual agricultural fairs ; individuals 
have attempted to establish private schools ; and at least two gentle- 
men, at their decease, have left splendid legacies for founding such 
schools, — one at Roxbury, and the other at Northampton. I refer to 
Hon. Benjamin Bussey, and Oliver Smith, Esq., of Hatfield. How 
soon the legacy of the former can be brought into use, for a school at 
Roxbury, I know not ; but that of Mr. Smith will not be available for 
more than half a century. Yet let no one fear that we shall have too 
many schools of this description. Those countries in Europe where 
they are most numerous, are most inclined to multiply them ; and my 
own conviction is, that, ere fifty years are gone by, the State will find 
that she needs several of these institutions, of the superior class. I 
apprehend that it will not be found wise to allow the number of pupils 
in any of them to exceed two hundred. 

Perhaps here I should rest ; but so naturally have I been led to in- 
quire into the proper character of agricultural education in this State, 
should any be adopted, that 1 shall venture to obtrude upon the com- 
mittee my conclusions. I trust, however, that I shall not be so tena- 
cious of these views, as not to be willing to adopt better ones, which 
other members of the committee may suggest. 

The first question that arises, is, What are the objects we may hope 
to attain by founding agricultural schools in the State ? 

I reply, and here I must be pardoned for a repetition of some senti- 
ments, — 

1. First, such schools would furnish to all classes of the community, 
an opportunity to acquire a definite knowledge of all the known prin- 
ciples by which agricultural pursuits should be conducted. These 
principles are the joint results of all the experience men have ever had 
in husbandry, and of all the deductions they have made from the sci- 
ences on this subject. That there is now a great deficiency of such 
knowledge in our community, no man in his senses will deny. Many 
of the principles of agriculture are, indeed, themselves yet unsettled ; 
but a great many are settled, of which our farmers are yet ignorant, 
or know them only imperfectly. To explain and illustrate these, will 
be the grand business of agricultural schools. Hence, it is the sons of 
farmers who would be most interested in attending them. But there 
are many others, who desire to prepare their sons for agricultural pur- 
suits ; at least, to enable them to oversee farming establishments, if not 



76 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

to labor with their own hands ; and they would find such schools a 
most important auxiliary to their success. 

2. In such schools our youth would find an excellent opportunity of 
learning the best method of conducting the practical operations of the 
farm ; in other words, of seeing theory reduced to practice. They 
would leam, also, how to labor with their own hands, for I take it such 
a requisition would be indispensable in these schools. And thus might 
we hope that practical farming would become more popular, as it 
should be, among all classes of the community. 

3. These schools would form centres of information on the subject 
of agriculture, and from them our farmers could derive important aid. 
They would keep in communication with similar institutions throughout 
the world, and thus would learn all that might be new or important in 
husbandry, and spread it through the community. 

4. These schools would be the best places for testing the value of 
supposed improvements in agriculture. Such improvements, coming 
accidentally to the farmer's ears, are now often tried, and not unfre- 
quently found of no value, and this is one of the circumstances that 
prejudices farmers against what they call book farming. But let such 
supposed discoveries be first tried on the experimental farm connected 
with the school, and their deficiency or value may be thus learnt once 
for all. 

5. They ought to be places for making improvements in agriculture. 
We ought not to expect too much in this respect, especially when the 
schools are new. But as the instructors become experienced, and the 
means in their hands more ample, it may be hoped that they will push 
their researches and experiments into unexplored regions, and bring 
back some fruit for the practical farmer. 

6. Finally, to sum up the whole in one word, the grand object of these 
schools is to improve the husbandry of Massachusetts. It is to make 
the acres that now produce something, produce more, and thus to stim- 
ulate the rising generation to reclaim more acres from the waste con- 
dition in which they now lie. One is struck, in travelling through the 
state, to see how large a part of its surface produces next to nothing, 
although capable of yielding a rich supply; nay, in how many cases 
the richest portions of its soil, — its swamps, for instance, — remain in 
their native condition. Nor is it strange that our sons, when they see 
so little to encourage them at home, should brave the hardships and 
the fevers of the western prairies, in order to enjoy their prolific soil. 
Agricultural schools will aid in checking this disposition to emigration, 
and tend to multiply the cultivated acres of Massachusetts. Along with 
agricultural societies and individual efforts, which will still be needed 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 77 

as much as ever, we may hope these schools, properly founded, and 
judiciously managed, will serve to bring agriculture more nearly upon 
the ground occupied by the other arts. Now it is decidedly below 
them ; and yet these arts can never thrive long if agriculture is neg- 
lected, and, therefore, it is for the interest of all classes to join in 
efforts to advance the cause of agriculture. 

But ivhat shall he the character of the Agricultural Schools, should 
any be established in Massachusetts 7 This difficult inquiry I would 
meet by a few suggestions. But after the survey that has now been 
taken of agricultural education in Europe, it cannot be expected that I 
should recommend, or that the community will be satisfied, with 
schools of an inferior class. Twenty, or even ten years ago, it might 
have answered to propose the introduction of agriculture into our pri- 
mary schools, or as a department in our academies, or a professorship in 
our colleges. All this it may be well enough to do now, but some- 
thing more must be done. So Europeans judge, and accordingly, as 
we have seen, they have started institutions with as ample a foundation, 
and as numerous a body of instructors, as we find in most of our 
American colleges. Nothing shoi-t of this, as it seems to me, will be 
sufficient for our country ; nay, I fancy that at least one such superior 
institution is needed in each of our states. The work to be done is too 
great, the number of teachers is too many, and the amount of various 
collections too large, to attempt to attach an agricultural school to some 
other institution, and that too as only a subordinate branch. Even if 
agriculture is taught in our colleges, academies, and primary schools, 
it needs some one institution devoted entirely to the subject, to give 
effect and completeness to the subordinate teaching, and to carry it 
still farther ; otherwise the agricultural knowledge will be as the literary 
would be, if the universities and colleges of the land were taken out of 
the way, and only the primary schools and academies remained. 

But though our community, as I believe, especially the intelligent 
farmers, are prepared to appreciate the importance of such superior 
institutions, I fear that but few are ready to devote the amount of funds 
requisite for putting such a seminary at once into full operation. Nay, 
none but those who have had experience know how large an amount 
of money it requires, with the strictest economy, to found and carry 
on successfully a large institution of learning. My hope is, however, 
that the government and the people will start this enterprise, if they do 
it at all, with a high standard in view, even though they cannot, till a 
considerable period, reach the height of their wishes. It seems to me 
that to aim much lower than the plan which follows, will be likely to 
make the whole subject, ere long, contemptible, or at least a failure. 



78 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

Outlines of a Plan for Agricultural Education in Massa- 
chusetts. 

I. Let an Agricultural School or College of the superior class be 
established somewhere in the State, possessed of all the means (teach- 
ers, books, apparatus, specimens, farms, &c.) necessary to give a 
finished education in the principles and practice of agriculture. Such 
a school, it seems to me, should embrace the following particulars, at 
least : — 

1. A school of instruction, hy lectures and recitations, in the follow- 
ing branches : 

a. Practical agriculture. 

h. Chemistry, elementary and applied. 

c. Natural history, especially zoology and botany. 

d. Elementary and applied mineralogy and geology. 

e. Anatomy and physiology, human and comparative. 
f. Veterinary medicine and surgery. 

2. Collections of the folloioing description : — 

a. Models of agricultural instruments. 

b. Of dried seeds. 

c. Of dried grasses, gi'ains, &c., entire. 

d. Specimens planed, of the useful kinds of wood. 

e. A pomological collection, or models of the varieties of fruit. 

f. Small collections of simple minerals and rocks for elementary 
instruction in mineralogy and geology. 

g. An economic collection, embracing all the minerals, rocks, fossils, 
soils, marls, clays, &c., useful in the arts, exhibiting them in their va- 
rious stages of preparation, with specimens of the finished articles, 
constituting what in Europe is called a museum of economic geology. 

I saw three such collections in Europe ; one at the School of Mines 
in Paris ; one in London, the fruit of the Ordnance Survey ; and one 
in Dublin, having the same origin ; the two latter not yet opened 
to the public, but very choice and splendid collections. They must be 
very serviceable for all the arts. 

h. Insects injurious to vegetation. 

i. Stuffed specimens and drawings of the species and varieties of 
animals useful in agriculture. 

k. A museum of human and comparative anatomy, including a 
manikin. 

I. Chemical and philosophical apparatus. 

m. A scientific and agricultural library. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 79 

Some of these collections are more important than others ; but they 
would all be of service, and tend to give permanence to the institution. 
To procure and arrange them would require a long time, but they 
might be begun at once. I saw all of them, larger or smaller, in some 
of the agricultural schools of Europe, though nowhere at the same 
school. Indeed, many of ..those schools appeared to me to be quite 
deficient in collections, and I thought this one cause why they were in 
a decaying state. When literary institutions are called, as they often 
are, in the early part of their course, to pass through seasons of storm, 
good libraries, and ample apparatus, and collections, form one of the 
best of anchors to enable the vessel to outride the tempest. 

3. A model and experimental farm of moderate size, and instruc- 
tion in practical farming. I see no use in a large farm, as in general 
a small one, say of 100 or 200 acres, will embrace every important 
variety of soil, and can be more easily managed. It seemed to me 
that some of the European schools have farms so large as to be un- 
wieldly. 

4. Provision for Instruction in Ancient and Modern languages. 
Such studies should not be required. But some might wish to get a 
little knowledge of Latin and Greek, in order to become better natural- 
ists, and understand better the scientific terms in agriculture ; and 
others would wish to acquire French or German. Such instruction 
would be no cost to the State, as teachers might be found near at hand, 
most probably, in almost any part of the State, and it would render 
the school more attractive and respectable. It has been seen that such 
instruction is provided in some of the schools in Europe. It might be 
well, also, to provide similar instruction in the higher mathematics, as 
is done frequently in Europe. 

5. Provision on the farm for the hoard of those students who are 
willing to devote their time to labor daily beyond lohat is required of 
all. For these extra labors, in my opinion, a compensation should be 
given, such as should at least meet the charge for board. This might 
enable many poor but worthy young men to enjoy the benefit of the 
institution, who would otherwise be deprived of the privilege. 

6. Number of Instructors Necessary. 

1. A professor of horticulture, sylviculture, and rural legislation, 
who should also be chairman of the board of instructors, or president 
of the institution. 

2. A professor of agriculture. 

3. A professor of elementary and agricultural chemistry. 

4. One of natural history and geology, who should be curator of the 
collections. 



80 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

5. One of anatomy, physiology, and veterinary medicine and 
surgery. 

6. One of the mathematics of agriculture, such as farm accounts, 
irrigation, draining, surveying, levelling, construction of roads, bridges, 
<k,c. 

This appears to me the smallest number of professors with which 
an institution could be respectable and useful, even at its commence- 
ment. The number is much less than it is at nearly all the higher ag- 
ricultural seminaries in Europe. There it ranges from eight to 
twenty. 

Besides the professors, there should be a superintendent of the farm, 
and of all practical operations of the establishment, who might also 
give some lectures, say on practical agriculture. 

If one of the professors should be a clergyman, he might act as 
chaplain of the establishment. 

7. The course of study should embrace two years. When creditably 
finished, the pupil should be entitled to an agricultural diploma or 
degree. 

8. For admission., an examination should he required, in English 
grammar., geography, arithmetic, and Euclid''s Elements of Geometry, 
at least the first five books. This may seem a high standard. It is 
higher than most of the schools in Europe. But the young men of 
Massachusetts, even the poorest, can easily come up to it, and thus 
make their subsequent course much more profitable. One great com- 
plaint in Europe is, that the pupils are unable, for want of early edu- 
cation, to understand the instruction. 

9. The tuition should he as loio as possible, certainly not higher than 
at the existing colleges of the State, and that is about $40. As soon as 
possible the instruction should be gratuitous. 

10. Several scholarships, say as many as ten to begin with, equal at 
least to the tuition, should he founded by the State, to be given to the 
most diligent and successful pupils. Also, several prizes of a smaller 
amount should be offered. 

This is the almost universal practice in Europe, and its operation is 
excellent. 

11. Provided individuals shall offer ten acres of good land, to he 
improved as a model farm, by some academy, let the State give to that 
academy (not more than to one in each county,) at least $200 for in- 
struction, and $50 for a library ; provided said academy shall agree 
to cultivate the land, and provide for a department of agriculture : the 
aid from the State to be withdrawn, however, when the number of 
students in agriculture shall be less than ten. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 81 

12. Let a manual of agriculture be prepared by some competent 
person, or some existing manual be adopted, and introduced into the 
primary schools, if any children wish to study it. It might be well for 
the State to furnish the books gratis. 

13. One object of these schools of a lower grade should be to pre- 
pare pupils to enter the central institution, in advanced standing, if 
fitted for it. 

14. By the additio7i of a single professorship of technology to such 
an institution as has been described, and extending the collection of in- 
struments to those of every art, this school might become a school of 
mines, as well as of commerce and manufactures, and thus afford an 
education to the son of the mechanic and merchant, as loell as the 
farmer. 

I do not, however, recommend that such an addition should be made 
at the outset, lest by aiming at too many objects, the whole be lost, as 
we have seen to have been the case sometimes in Europe. 

15. Let the State appoint a Board and Secretary of Agriculture, who 
shall sustain the same relations to that interest and the schools con- 
nected with it, as the Board and Secretary of Education do to primary 
schools. 

Methods by which the State can put the preceding Plan 
INTO Operation. 

1 . The first method would be for the State to assume at once the 
whole expense and responsibility of the entire system. For the first 
year the expenses would be nearly as follows : 

Purchase of a farm of 200 acres, with farm house, barns, 

&c.,say, ...... $10,000 

Boarding house, (if necessary,) . . - - 10,000 

Building for lectures, recitations, and cabinet, - - 25,*]00 

Apparatus, books, models, specimens, &c. - - 10,000 
To establish agricultural departments in the academies in 

different counties, say, .... 3,000 

For scholarships, prizes, and other contingent expenses, say, 5,000 

Salary of a president, .... - 1,200 

Do. of five professors, .... 5,000 

Do. of superintendent of the farm, - - - 800 

$70,000 

If we suppose there would be one hundred students, who are charged 
each for instruction, it would furnish $4000 towards the expense, 
11 



82 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

reducing it to $66,000. I have not supposed that the farm and board- 
ing establishment would do more than to support those who manage 
them for the first year or two. Perhaps little or nothing should be 
expected from them subsequently, more than this. 

If the State should choose to endow at once the presidency, and five 
professorships, it would require an additional appropriation of about 
$105,000. But I have supposed the State would prefer endowing them 
prospectively, whenever funds should accrue, from the sale of lands in 
Maine or other sources, that would not be needed for other purposes. 

On this supposhion, it would be necessary for the State to pay the 
salaries of the officers of the school, until such funds should become 
available. After the first year, then, we might calculate the annual 
expenses as follows : 

For salaries of president and professors, ... $6,200 

Do. of superintendent of the farm, ... 800 

For scholarships, prizes, collections, and contingencies, - 3,000 

For aid to county schools in the academies, ... 3,000 



$13,200 
Deduct tuition of 100 pupils, - - - - - 4,000 



Annual expense after the first year, - - - - $9,200 

If, now, the government of the State were prepared to vest the 

above sums in this enterprise, they might place the institution on a 

solid basis, and bring it into operation without delay. I think a less 

amount could not accomplish the objects in view. It is far below the 

sum recommended for the same purpose, by an intelligent committee 

of the legislature in a neighboring state. It is not greater than the 

ffarmers of the State, if I rightly judge of their feelings, would ap- 

•|)^rove ; certainly not greater than their interests deserve. Yet not im- 

; probably many will feel that it would not be wise for the legislature to 

make so large an appropriation at the beginning of the enterprise, lest 

•it should fail, or the public mind is not prepared for it. I beg leave, 

therefore, to suggest another method, by which a considerable part of 

the expenditure might for a time be saved, the school brought even 

, earlier into operation, and ultimately reach the same standard, as in the 

'first plan. This method is as follows : 

2. Let the agricultural institute be located so near some existing 
literary institution, that the pupils could attend its scientijic lectures 
nnd study its collections in natural history. 

By such a plan, the pupils of the agricultural school might have 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 83 

access almost, perhaps quite, free of expense (unless so numerous as 
to render it necessary to enlarge the lecture rooms,) to the following 
courses of lectures, until the State should be ready to endow a full 
corps of professors, and make the proper collections, when the tem- 
porary connection between the two institutions could be dissolved : 

1. A course on anatomy and physiology, 

2. On mineralogy. 

3. On geology. 

4. On zoology. 

5. On elementary chemistry. 

6. On botany. 

7. On natural philosophy. 

Such a course as this, if desirable, is entirely practicable, as I am 
prepared to show, if the committee wish for details. 

On this plan, the expenses would be as follows : 

For a farm and boarding house, as before, - - $20,000 

For lecture rooms and cabinet, .... 25,000 

For apparatus, books, and specimens, . - - 10,000 

For agricultural departments in academies, - - 3,000 

For scholarships, prizes, and contingencies, - - 5,000 

Salary of a president, and professor of agriculture, - 2,200 

Do. of a superintendent of the farm, - - - 800 
For extra courses of lectures by gentlemen from abroad, say 
on agricultural chemistry, and veterinary medicine, 

and surveying, say, .... 800 



$66,800 
Tuition of 100 pupils, ..... 4,000 



$62,800 

On this plan, only two professors need be directly and exclusively 
connected with the school, and the annual necessary expenses, after the 
first year, would be as follows, until the State should choose to separate 
it from the literary institution : 

Salary of president and professor of agriculture, - - $2,200 

Do. of superintendent of the farm, ... 800- 

For the academies, ..... 3,000 

For scholarships, prizes, tfec, .... 1,000 

For extra lectures, . ... 800 



$7,800 

Tuition of 100 pupils, deduct, . - - 4,000 

$3,800 



84 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

As to the immediate or prospective endowment of the presidency 
and a professorship of agriculture, the State could do as it judged ex- 
pedient, as in the first plan. 

It will be seen, that, by this second plan, the principal reduction of 
expense would be in the annual outlay after the first year. Yet the 
farm and buildings upon it would be the property of the State, although 
their sale for other purposes might involve some loss. But after all, 
there will be some, I doubt not, perhaps many, who will feel that in a 
new enterprise like this, and untried in our country, the State would 
not be justified in expending upon it a sum so large as even this second 
plan requires. They are in doubt whether the great body of the peo- 
ple are prepared for it, and if the government were to take the lead in 
this matter and get up a large establishment, it might be that the peo- 
ple would not sustain it by sending their sons to it. They would 
prefer, therefore, that individuals should take the lead in the enterprise, 
or, at any rate, that the government should only offer certain sums for 
the object, provided individuals will furnish equal sums. Thus public 
feeling would be tested, and if the school should be established, a 
deeper interest would be felt in it, than if founded by the government 
alone. 

There is certainly much truth and wisdom in such suggestions, and 
in view of them, I would present a third method, in which I think a 
school might be established, which would meet essentially these views, 
and yet not give up the hope of ultimately reaching the high standard 
proposed in the two first plans. 

Third Plan for an Agricultural Institute. 

I. Let a Board of Agriculture, as in the first plan, he appointed by 
ike Legislature, with the following, among other powers : 

1 . To appoint a secretary, one of whose duties for the present 
should be, to aid in the establishment of agricultural schools, and he 
should also be expected to give a course of lectures in the central 
school, should such a one be established and his services be required. 

2. To appoint a president of such central school or college, with a 
salary of $1,200, who should be also a professor of some department 
in the same ; also, to appoint a professor of agriculture in the same, 
with a salary of $1,000. Also, a superintendent of the farm, with a 
salary from $800 to $1000. 

3. These four officers, the president, secretary, professor of ag- 
riculture, and superintendent, should have power, with the board, to 
select a site for such college, and purchase a farm, containing from 
100 to 200 acres, provided the following conditions could be realized. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 85 

1. If the school can be located near enough to some existing literary 
or scientific institution, for the pupils to attend its lectures, and study- 
its collections of natural history, it being understood that admittance to 
those lectures and cabinets shall be gratuitous, or nearly so, and that 
the lectures embrace the following subjects : 1. Chemistry ; 2. Botany ; 
3. Mineralogy ; 4. Geology ; 5. Zoology ; 6. Anatomy, and physiolo- 
gy ; 7. Natural philosophy. 

2. If the friends of agricultural education in the place where the 
school is to be located, or in other places, shall raise a sum for the 
purchase of a farm, and sustaining the school, equal to the sum appro- 
priated by the State, which sum shall not exceed $20,000, nor be less 
than $15,000; that is, the State shall not be called on to pay over 
$20,000 in any case to establish and carry the school through the first 
year. 

4. The Board should have poioer to procure for the school, annual 
courses of lectures, upon subjects not provided for by the instruclio7i of 
the president, secretary, professor of agriculture, and superintendent, nor 
by the lectures in the adjacent literary institution ; as for instance, the 
subject of veterinary medicine and surgery, and agricultural chemistry. 

5. Poivcr to appoint one tutor for every thirty-five scholars in the 
school, with a salary of $500, whose duty it shall be to hear recitations 
in all the branches studied in the school, as well as to examine the classes 
upon all the lectures they hear, and, in connection with the president, 
professor of agriculture, and superintendent, to watch over the conduct 
of the scholars, and exercise all the discipline of the school. 

6. Power to inake an offer to the public, in behalf of the State, of the 
prospective endowment of a professorship of elementary and agricultural 
chemistry ; of natural history and geology ; of anatomy, physiology, 
and veterinary medicine and surgery, whenever funds from the sale of 
lands in Maine, or from other sources, not demanded for other objects, 
shall come into the possession of the State ; provided that individuals 
or societies shall agree to give one half of said endowments, with 
the privilege of attaching their names to the professorships ; and pro- 
vided also, that a professorship shall not be reckoned higher than 
$20,000. 

7. Power to expend $3,000, the first year, in establishing agricultural 
departments in as many of the existing academies of the State as shall be 
judged expedient ; provided, that from eight to ten acres of good land 
shall be provided, to be cultivated as a model farm by said academy ; 
and provided the number of scholars in the academy, studying agricul- 
ture, shall not be less than ten. 

8. Power to inake such other arrangements for the management of the 



86 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

new school, as they may judge necessary ; particularly to allow such stu- 
dents as cannot be accomnnodatecl with board at the farm house, to take 
rooms in the town where the school is situated, and, in renting the 
farm, see to it that opportunity be given to those pupils, who may de- 
sire it, to pay for their board by labor. 

9. Power to invite donations from the citizens of the State, of models 
and drawings of agricultural instruments, and drawings of animals use- 
ful in agriculture ; models of varieties of fruit ; specimens of insects 
injurious to vegetation ; of the skeletons of animals ; of dried seeds^ 
grasses, and grains ; of rocks, minerals, and soils ; of agricultural 
and scientific hooks, and whatever substances, organic or inorganic, 
may he useful in such a school. 

10. Poiver to invite the friends of agriculture to establish scholar- 
ships and prizes in the central school and in the county schools. 

IL Poiver to secure the x>repttration and introduction into the pri- 
mary schools of a proper manual of agriculture, to be taught there to those 
children whose parents wish them to attend to that subject. 

12. Were such an arrangement to go into operation, in which the 
government defrayed half the expense, and individuals the other half, 
then should the central and the county schools be under the control of 
trustees, one half of whotn should consist of the board of agriculture, 
and the other half of gentlemen chosen by the donors to the several iri- 
stitutions ; one hundred dollars to constitute a share, and to entitle the 
donor of that sum to one vote for trustees, two hundred to two voles, 
and so on. 

Expenses of the School upon the above Plan for the first year. 

I will suppose the donations of individuals for founding the school 
in the place where it is located, and in other places, to rise no higher 
than $15,000, although we might reasonably hope, I think, to raise it 
to $20,000. Adding to this the appropriation of the State, we should 
have $30,000. If we suppose only 100 students for the first year, to 
pay $40 each, we must add $4,000 to $30,000, equal to $34,000, the 
sum with which to found the school. Let us see whether this sum 
will be at all adequate to put the school into operation. 

Cost of a farm from 150 to 200 acres, with farm houses, and 

a boarding house, - - . - - $20,000 
For agricultural departments in the academies, if equal sums 

are raised by individuals, ... - 3,000 

Salary of a president, ... - - 1,200 

Do, of a professor of agriculture, ^ » » 1,000 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 87 

Salary of a superintendent of the farm, who should also give 

lectures, - - - - - - 1,000 

Salaries of three tutors, (one for every thirty students,) - 1,500 

Extra courses of lectures, ... - - 600 



Amount, $28,300 

Funds on hand, ...... $34,000 



Excess of funds, ...... 5,700 

This excess would doubtless be needed for contingencies that must 
be met, especially the first year. Some of it, certainly, would be 
wanted for a library. I have not supposed any income from the farm. 
Probably thei-e might be none the first year, as it would most likely re- 
quire two head farmers, under the superintendent, to carry it on, and 
doubtless many improvements would need to be set on foot. 

Cost of the School in subsequent years. 

For the academies, .... 
Salaries of president, a professor, and a superintendent. 
Salaries of three tutors. 
Extra courses of lectures, 



150 students at $40 each, 
Income of the farm, - 



- 


$3,000 


1 


3,200 


- 


1,500 


- 


600 




$8,300 


$6,000 




200 






$6,200 



Annual expense after the first year, - - -• - $2,100 

So far as the number of students and the income of the farm are 
concerned, the above statements are hypothetical ; that is, the esti- 
mates are based only on probabilities, and may be quite erroneous, al- 
though I have endeavored to place the numbers very low. But as to 
the salaries, they are put even higher than they now are at the literary 
colleges in the country, and I feel confident that competent men can be 
obtained for those sums, I am quite sure, also, that for $20,000, a 
farm of 200 acres, with farm houses, and a boarding-house, can be 
purchased in a situation which would answer the other conditions of 
this plan. I mention these facts to show that the plan is a practical 
one, although it would be premature for me to go into details, which 
very probably may never be wanted. If they are needed, I am ready 
to furnish them. 

In conclusion, I would only say, that my conviction is, that if Massa- 



88 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 185L 

chusetts desire it, she might, on some such plan as has been suggested, 
within a very few months, put into operation a system of AgricuUural 
Schools that would ultimately attain a very high character. Some will 
doubtless think the standard to be too high. But it is not hijiher than is 
common in Europe. If so many examples of liberality were not before 
us in that quarter of the globe, or if inferior schools alone had not there 
been found insufficient, we might be justified in adopting some narrow 
system of instruction. But I fear that such a course would disappoint 
its friends, and confirm the prejudices of its enemies. I cannot be- 
lieve that the citizens of Massachusetts, especially its farmers, will be 
content with a narrow system. Their common schools are too well 
known all over the world to allow them to fall far below Europeans in 
their Agricultural Schools. Is it not high time to show that the State, 
which has distinguished herself so much by the literary education of 
her children, can rise equally high in her agricultural system of edu- 
cation ? 

We hear men speak of the great expense of agricultural schools, as 
if the money bestowed upon them were lost, or, at least, unproductive. 
But if, as we have reason to believe, those schools would sensibly ad- 
vance the cause of farming in the State, our money could not be better 
vested. For to advance our agriculture is to give a new impulse to all 
other industrial pursuits ; nay, to all our great interests, economical, 
political, social and moral. Money expended for such an object, is, 
therefore, put out at compound interest ; and our children, if not our- 
selves, will reap the rich reversion. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 
Amherst, Dec. 16lh^ 1859. 



A TABULAR VIEW 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS OF EUROPE 



IN 1850, 



12 



90 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



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1851.] 



HOUSE— No. 13. 



93 



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do 

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Orme-du-Pont, 



94 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



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HOUSE— No. 13. 



95 



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HOUSE— No. 13. 



97 



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Agriculture. 
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ture in University. 
Practical Agriculture. 
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Culture, &c,, of flax, 
do 

do 

Professorship in Universi- 
ty of Lemberg. 
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Krummau, - 
Prague, 

GrEetz,(Johanneum) 
Trieste, 
Lemberg, (Univer- 

Trutsch, - 
Kcenigsael, 
Geyesberg, 
Twenty schools in 

different places. 
In Silesia, - 
In Moravia, 
In Galicia, - 

Cracow, 


Several schools for 
flax in Austrian 
Poland, 



1851.] 



HOUSE— No. 13. 



99 



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1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 103 



Conclusion by the Commissioners. 

With these views and statements, the commissioners having 
had the various subjects committed to them under considera- 
tion, and feeling that the great object of agricultural education 
is one of vital importance, not only to the farmers of Massachu- 
setts but to the prosperity of the Commonwealth, beg leave 
to submit the subjoined recommendations, and earnestly to 
commend the whole subject to the favorable attention of the 
Legislature. 

But, inasmuch as it has been the custom of the State to dis- 
burse her funds for educational and charitable purposes, so as 
to encourage and enlist private munificence in conjunction with 
legislative aid, your commissioners offer their recommendations 
on the following conditions : 

1. To carry out the foregoing views, the commissioners rec- 
ommend the appropriation by the Legislature of twenty thou- 
sand dollars, for the purpose of establishing a Central Agricultural 
College, with a Model and Experimental Farm ; said institution 
to be open to all classes of the Commonwealth, and in the gov- 
ernment of which the State shall be interested so far as may be 
deemed expedient ; provided, however, that this sum shall not 
be drawn for until an equal amount shall have been raised by 
private donation or legacy, and deposited in the treasury of the 
Commonwealth, to constitute a common fund for this object. 

2. Whenever any incorporated Academy, not exceeding one 
such institution in each county, shall raise a fund of two thou- 
sand dollars or more, towards establishing and supporting a de- 
partment of agricultural instruction, with lands suitable for 
experiments, it shall be entitled to draw from the treasury of 
the Commonwealth, the sum of two hundred dollars annually ; 
provided, however, that whenever the number of scholars re- 
ceiving instruction in agriculture shall be less than ten, the 
aid of the State shall be withheld. 

3. The undersigned recommend the establishment of a State 
Department of Agriculture, to consist of a board of commission- 



104 AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. [Jan. 

ers and a secretary, whom they shall annually appoint, which 
board shall sustain a similar relation to agriculture and the 
schools connected with it, as the board and secretary of educa- 
tion do to primary schools. This board shall consist of one mem- 
ber from, and to be elected by, each of the incorporated agricultu- 
ral societies now receiving the bounty of the State, which board 
shall have power to locate, organize and put in operation the 
College contemplated by the foregoing recommendations. The 
duties of the secretary shall be, under the direction of the board, 
to give lectures in the various parts of the Commonwealth, 
whenever it may be deemed expedient, on the science and prac- 
tice of agriculture ; to receive the returns of the incorporated 
agricultural societies, and make a digest of the same in the form 
of an annual report to the Legislature ; to collect agricultural 
statistics and information in the various departments of this sci- 
ence ; to correspond with local societies in this and other lands ; 
to visit individually, in connection with the board, the exhi- 
bitions of the various county societies ; and to promote, by 
such other measures as the board may devise, this most impor- 
tant branch of human industry. 

4. The commissioners further recommend, that inasmuch as 
the aid now rendered by the Commonwealth to agricultural 
societies was granted with reference to a very different state of 
things, when the population was smaller, agricultural products 
fewer, and all industrial pursuits were sources of much less rev- 
enue to the State ; and in view of the increase of population, 
productions and revenue, an additional grant of one hun- 
dred dollars annually be made on every thousand dollars of the 
permanent fund of the several agricultural societies, which are 
or may be entitled by the present laws to the bounty of the 
State. Provided, however, that this sum shall not exceed nine 
hundred dollars to any society per annum. 

5. That a premium, of such an amount as the Legislature 
may deem judicious, be offered for the best Elementary Trea- 
tise on Agriculture, suitable for common schools ; said premium 
to be awarded by the Board of Agriculture, if such be created, 
or, if not, by a committee to be appointed by the Governor and 
council. 



1851.] HOUSE— No. 13. 105 

6. That after the common school fund shall have reached 
the sum of one million of dollars, and the Western Railroad 
sinking fund shall have been adequately secured, all proceeds 
of lands belonging to the Commonwealth in the state of Maine, 
and of the claims of Massachusetts on the federal government, 
shall be reserved to form a fund, the income of which shall be 
appropriated, at the discretion of the Legislature, for fhe encour- 
agement or support of institutions for instruction in agriculture^ 
for charitable purposes, and for education. 

In conclusion, the commissioners have not deemed it expe- 
dient to report in favor of aid, at this time, to the other sub- 
jects committed to them for consideration, or to submit any 
more specific plans than those embraced in these general rec- 
ommendations, or such as may be drawn from the substance of 
this report, leaving for the wisdom of the Legislature, or any 
Board of Commissioners which may hereafter be appointed,, 
more perfectly to develop plans and modes of action. 



Signed, 



MARSHALL P. WILDER, 
EDWARD HITCHCOCK, 
SAMUEL A. ELIOT, 
THOMAS E. PAYSON, 
ELI WARREN, 

Commissioners. 



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